Home Is Where The Heart Is
by Stephanniexo
Summary: Harry Potter finds himself lonely living in Grimmauld place on his own. He decides he needs a roommate. Draco Malfoy is sick of living with his mother, he is now twenty-five after all. He decides he needs to move out. WARNING - Eventual Harry/Draco, mentions and examples of other relationships throughout.
1. Chapter 1

**Title:** _Home is where the heart is._

**Pairing:** _Harry Potter/Draco Malfoy_

**Long summary:** _Harry is lonely living in 12 Grimmauld Place on his own but can not bring himself to sell it or rent it out to anyone else and so he decides to put an ad in the Daily Prophet for a roommate/housemate. He realises he can get a lot of attention from this and so gets his secretary at work to deal with interviews and viewings of the house._

_Draco has been living with his mother since the end of the war and has come to the decision that at twenty five it is about time that he moved out. He doesn't want to live on his own and the Malfoy family fortune is off limits while his mother is still alive so he decides to look for ad's in the paper. He comes across an interesting one almost immediately and can't believe his luck when he passes the interview._

**Disclaimer:** _The wonderful and talented J.K. Rowling has dibs on the characters and the majority of everything else._ _I do however own this particular variation so if you'd kindly not copy and claim as your own, I'd be grateful._

**Rating**_: M for Mature content, probably. I don't know if there will ever be sex in it, I hope there is but it just depends if I can write it at the time or not._

* * *

><p>Part 1<p>

Harry Potter smiled as he watched his assistant push her reading glasses up her nose and start to read the sheaf of parchment he had just given her. He was kind of nervous about what she was going to say. She was the first person that he had told about his new idea and it meant a lot to him to see what she thought about it, to see if it really was as good an idea as he originally thought.

"You want a roommate?" Natasha asked with her eyebrows raised, her voice high in surprise, the parchment Harry had just handed her with a rough draft of an advert for the Daily Prophet hanging loosely now in her hand. Natasha was naturally very petite and skinny and extremely kind and open-minded which was one of the reasons why he chose to tell her first.

"Well yeah, more a housemate I guess, it's not like we're in school or anything. I need some company Natasha, I'm starting to drive myself insane. You know I actually caught myself having a full blown conversation with my own reflection the other day?" Harry said pushing his glasses up his nose and moving around his desk, falling into the chair behind it.

"And you think an ad in the Prophet is going to help that? You're going to get a whole load of weirdo's this way you realise? Not to mention all the people that will apply just because of who you are," Natasha said. She perched her reading glasses on the end of her nose again and peered at the advert once more as if to make sure she wasn't imagining things.

"That's why I want to put it in under your name. Also, if you don't mind, if you could narrow down and interview the best suitable people, well that would also be really helpful," Harry said. Natasha looked up, over her glasses at him but luckily she seemed more curious than angry.

"I would be getting paid extra for this?" she asked, pushing her glasses back, onto the top of her head and perching on the edge of Harry's desk.

"Of course," Harry said with a smile, knowing he had her on board as long as he agreed to her conditions. The whole process was quicker and easier than he had expected, for which he was glad.

"So, I place this advert in the paper under my name and narrow down the applications to say...two people. Then what?"

"Then you contact them to make an appointment for a showing, where we will reveal it's my house and see if they are still interested. You'll need to be there, I think it would be good if they know at least you and are familiar with you, having done the interview. If they both are still interested, we choose which one is best, if not, we're left with whichever one hasn't freaked out," Harry explained. Natasha frowned but nodded to show she understood.

"Alright. I'll send this to the prophet immediately," she said and stood from where she had been perched on the edge of Harry's desk. "Just so you know though, I think you're crazy for doing this," she said, without looking back as she went through the door.

"Thank you Natasha!" Harry called after her. He sighed, thankful that it had gone so well. He knew Natasha was reliable enough to find him someone suitable to live with, someone that shared the same interests, or at least that was what he was hoping for. He tried to put the whole idea out of his head and pulled a memo towards him, ready to get some official work done. It was difficult to concentrate when the thought of who he could possibly be living with kept barging to the forefront of his mind.

* * *

><p>"Harry, are you sure you have thought this through? You could end up with anyone," Hermione said as she handed him a cup of coffee, two sugars and went back to settle on the couch next to Ron, her own mug of tea cradled in her hands.<p>

"I've told you Hermione, I've thought about _everything_. The Fidelius charm protects the whereabouts of the house, so I'm not going to be sold to the papers, the fact that Natasha is doing the interviews and such is going to stop anyone seeking inside information on me, from applying in the first place. If I do get anyone particularly interested in me, then I will deal with that when it happens. Hopefully I'll still have the other person to choose instead. Everything's covered," Harry explained for what he was sure was the third time and took a grateful sip of coffee.

It had been a long day at work, once he had finally got his mind off his new idea and got down to some paperwork. He hated his paperwork days. He'd much rather be out on the field, however, being head of the Auror department unfortunately meant he had to dedicate two days out of his five at work, to paperwork and that wasn't including the extra he did on weekends, at home.

"But didn't you ever think of renting the house out? Wouldn't that be easier than living with a complete stranger, a complete weirdo?" Ron asked, pulling Hermione's legs over his lap as she settled properly on the couch.

"I did, but the thought of having complete strangers living in the house without me just made my skin crawl a little bit. You know I couldn't do that," Harry explained. Ron jerked his head in understanding but Hermione remained dubious, Harry could tell by the way she was looking at him.

"I don't know Harry, it just seems so...unusual, why go through all of the hassle?" Hermione asked. Harry sighed and put his cup down on the coffee table in front of him. He was hoping he wouldn't have to tell them this, certainly not admit it to Ron of all people.

"Because Hermione, I'm starting to go a little insane in that house on my own. I don't think it would matter if I moved into a smaller house, I would still be lonely, just in a smaller setting," Harry said. Ron very tactfully took that moment to look down at Hermione's feet in his lap while Hermione tilted her head to the left a little and gave Harry another familiar look; of empathy. Hermione knew what it was like to be lonely, she had spent most of her childhood alone, friendless, because she was different, and so had Harry. She could relate on a certain level but she didn't know this kind of lonely.

The kind of lonely that Harry had felt for well over the past year, was different from not fitting in or not having friends. Harry fitted in just fine, at work and in the wizarding community, kind of hard not to when you're the chosen one. And he had friends, plenty and the best he could have ever asked for, but this was different. He wanted to be able to wake up in the morning and have someone to speak to other than his own refection or his owl Nicolas, it didn't even have to be someone that he was in a relationship with. He just wanted to be able to go to sleep at night knowing that there was someone else in the house, that he wasn't completely alone, just to have someone else's presence in the house would be more than ideal to him. That was all he was asking for.

"I'm not going to act as if I think it's the best idea that you've ever had Harry, but I'm not going to tell you that you shouldn't do it either. One, because you wont listen and two, because I believe in your judgement that this is the best option for you," Hermione said. Harry picked his mug back up off of the coffee table and smiled at her as he took a sip of it. He glanced at Ron who just shrugged and smiled back at him.

"Hermione's right though, you could end up with anyone if you think about it," Ron said.

"Oh yeah? Who were you thinking about?" Harry asked, grateful for the slightly lighter tone the conversation had taken.

"Well can you imagine if you started living with someone like Luna?" Ron said eyebrows raised in Harry's direction and a grin on his face as he obviously thought about the consequences of that. His grin faded a smidge when he looked at the reproachful glance Hermione was giving him. "I mean, I love Luna, she's brilliant but can you imagine living with her? You'd never get away from wrackspurts ever again,"

"He's got a point, can you imagine if she made tea like her dad? I'd be poisoned within a week," Harry said, grinning with his best friend now as he thought of the consequences of living with Luna and what it would be like every day. Hermione's lips twitched, even though everyone in the room could tell that she had tried to stop them from doing so. Eventually she gave in and couldn't help smiling too. The grinning and smiling turned into laughter and the trio spent the rest of the night coming up with different scenarios of who could become Harry's housemate.

* * *

><p>Draco sighed as he slowed to a stop at the door of the drawing room on the first floor of the Manor. He leant his shoulder on the door frame and watched his mother as she stared out of the window, quill in her hand poised over a sheaf of parchment, ink dripping steadily from it. The sun shone directly into this room from the east and made all the little trinkets and crystal ornaments twinkle and reflect little rainbows over the dark walls. Draco could see why his mother spent so much time in here.<p>

"Mother?" he said gently, as not to startle her. She tore her eyes from the window and looked to the side, so that Draco knew he had her attention. "Are you sure that you're okay with this?"

"Of course I am Draco. This should have happened years ago, I was much too selfish to want to keep you here all this time," his mother said. Her voice was soft and Draco was surprised he could hear her at all, probably because it was that quiet around the house these days, there was no background noise.

"I've only just started looking. It could be months before I find something suitable enough," Draco said. His mother smiled and turned her head back to the window.

"But of course. It might be. We shall just have to wait and see," she said.

"Yes," Draco said even though he was frowning at her. Of course she didn't see this, having her back to him and all but Draco wouldn't have been surprised if she just knew anyway. "Do you want me to get Florence to bring you up a cup of tea?"

"That would be...nice," she said. She dipped her head forward, over the parchment and began scratching away at it. Draco took this as his leave and turned his back on the room, retreating towards the kitchens, his hands in his pockets and his head dropped in guilt.

He dropped down at the kitchen table and pulled the prophet towards him, only minutes later. He had sent Florence, the house elf off to give his mother a cup of tea and anything else that she may need. Draco flipped to the ad pages and leant back in his chair, bringing the piece of the prophet and a quill from his pocket with him.

He was feeling a little guilty and anxious about actually finding anywhere suitable enough for him to live. He didn't know whether he really wanted to leave his mother on her own or not. She was almost insufferable to actually live with these days, flicking between moods in a blink of an eye and alternating between wanting to be alone or wanting company so much that Draco didn't know whether he was coming or going some days.

His eyes roamed over the paper quickly, half scared that he wouldn't find anything suitable enough for him and half scared that he would. He paused half way down in the middle of the page and leant back over the table again, quill poised.

_Housemate wanted. Large spacious house situated in the centre of London. Three available bedrooms, drawing room, dinning room, kitchen and study. Looking for someone to share it, and make it feel a bit more homely. Please send all applications to Natasha Smith Jones and you will be mailed with an appointment to meet and view the house and it's owner._

Draco could barely believe he was seeing this. He had never imagined finding something so suitable to him within the first couple of days of looking. The house sounded so grand and perfect, not unlike what he already knows with the manor, but slightly warmer and definitely not full of haunting memories, and with what sounded like good company as well. Now that he had found the perfect place, written out in black and white, he didn't feel so guilty about leaving his mother. He had her blessing, even if it was a bit of a reluctant one and he needed to do this, he needed to grow up and out of the security of what was familiar, and what a perfect place to find to do so. Now all he needed to do was pass the application process and get an appointment and he would be well on his way.

* * *

><p>"Now Harry, there weren't a whole lot to choose from. Some of the other applicants were awful. There is one really good applicant, he's after this one. This is the best of the worst, she's okay, just a little eccentric that's all," Natasha said, a bundle of parchments in the crook of her arm, the first applicants application among them.<p>

"Okay, well we only need one good person if they are okay with this whole thing. What's the first ones name?" Harry asked peering down the street from his door step, hoping to catch a glance of this person.

"Erm, her name is Romilda, Romilda Vane," Natasha said. Harry's face dropped and he looked at Natasha quickly.

"Romilda Vane?" Harry asked.

Natasha smiled at him, "Yeah, she's only a few years younger than you, you probably went to Hogwarts at the same time, do you remember her?"

"You could say that. I don't know if-" Harry started quickly but Natasha was already looking over his shoulder, grinning and waving.

"Romilda! Hello," she said. Harry gritted his teeth as she skipped down the steps and counted to three. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad, maybe she was different now, maybe she had changed from when they were at Hogwarts, and they were older now, he had to give her the benefit of the doubt.

"Hi Natasha, thank you so much for considering my application," Harry heard Romilda say, for one thing her voice hadn't changed a bit it was still as flowery and girly as it had been six years ago. How could he possibly justify living with the girl who tried to give him a love potion in sixth year? To himself, or to Ron and Hermione?

"Well we should probably discuss something before we get too ahead of ourselves here, you see, it isn't me who needs a housemate, er...Harry?" Natasha said slowly. Harry sighed and rubbed his hand over his face, he realised that it was too late to just forget the whole thing now, especially with Natasha babbling away, none the wiser to the inner turmoil that was going on inside Harry. He was standing in plain view it wasn't like he could just apparate away, it would be both rude and a little obvious. So instead, he had no choice but to turn around and face the music.

He plastered a smile on his face and turned on the top step leading to his house and descended to the bottom, where Natasha and Romilda stood. Romilda's eyes widened in shock as he stepped up beside her and stuck out his hand, trying to be as polite as he could while still wishing to be anywhere but here at that moment, to be in the company of anyone but her.

"Romilda, it's nice to see you again," Harry flat out lied, his smile still fake and his voice controlled in such a way that Natasha was looking at him with a frown.

"H-Harry Potter," the younger girl breathed. She looked at Natasha and then back, her eyes still wide before grasping Harry's hand tightly, squeezing his fingers painfully. "You remember me from school?"

"Of course. A little hard to forget really," Harry said and forced a chuckle to which Natasha looked at him even more confused than she already had been.

_At least she had the decency to blush_, Harry thought vindictively and tugged his hand from her grasp again. He stuffed it into his pocket and looked at Natasha, whom was surveying him critically. "Should we start then?" he asked trying to show in his smile how uncomfortable he was about this whole thing.

"Er- yes- yes lets go in shall we? As you have probably assumed, it is Harry that is in the need of the housemate. This is his house, and before we carry on I believe that it would be prominent that you sign this secrecy agreement, vowing not to tell anyone else the location of the house, certainly not the press. Of course it has a fidelius charm set on it but the agreement includes the contents of the house as well. Do you agree?" Natasha asked.

"Uh- yes, yes of course," Romilda said. She shot a smile in Harry's direction, he just narrowed his eyes, not for one second willing to believe she would keep her word. She took the quill from Natasha and signed the parchment she held out for her. Natasha grinned, believing she had just secured Harry's secrecy and turned to him.

"Okay, let's just get this sorted then," Harry said turning to the house he and Natasha could see. As the one and only Secret Keeper of Grimmauld Place he was able to tell anyone he wished where it was, but anyone he told was not able to tell anyone else. After the war, because of how many people were still out there as secret keepers as members of the order, with a little help from Hermione they were able to lift the old charm and create a new one.

He wanted nothing more than to get this over and done with as quickly as possible. He was not going to let Romilda Vane live in his house. He just could not take her seriously, at all, and would never know whether he could trust her enough to even let her make him a cup of tea or something. No this would not do. But he had to carry on for the sake of saving face and so with a heavy sigh he opened his arms wide and gestured to the join of the two houses either side of where they stood.

"Welcome to 12 Grimmauld Place," Harry said.

* * *

><p>"It's an outright no, Nat," Harry hissed, exactly half an hour later, back to standing on the top step of the stairs leading to his house, watching the back of Romilda Vane slowly retreat down the street.<p>

"I don't understand why though Harry. She was very kind and seemed pretty normal, not like she was about to go rifling through your drawers any time soon. Sure she's a little eccentric, a little excitable and maybe even a little immature but it's not like we don't deal with that every day at work," Natasha explained.

"You don't understand okay? When we were at Hogwarts, she tried to slip me a love potion," Harry said. Natasha's mouth dropped open and Harry nodded, "Yeah. I didn't take it, it was hidden in a box of chocolates she'd given me and I had discarded them one day while looking for something and Ron thought they were a birthday present. He ate them and the following events ended in him almost being killed from being poisoned,"

"She made a dodgy love potion that was poison?" Natasha said, a little taken aback, glancing over her shoulder to see if she could tell anything dodgy by the way Romilda was walking away from them, even though the girl in question was now long out of sight.

"What? No. It's a long story okay; the fact is that I don't think I could live with someone like that. I'd always be scared of being slipped a love potion, even if she is different now and has gotten over the crush she had on me. The doubt would always still be there," Harry explained tapping the side of his head to demonstrate where the doubt would be.

"I suppose. Look it doesn't really matter anyway Harry, this next guy is much better." Natasha said confidently. She shuffled around with the parchment cradled in her arms and withdrew a very crisp looking piece.

"He owns his own apothecary and everything and okay so he's got a bit of a past but doesn't everybody these days? Plus you said you didn't mind if they did, as long as they had turned a new leaf, and I really think this guy has. He's donated quite a bit of money to charities and does a lot of work with them too, so it's not all just money and no effort," Natasha described.

Harry was a little dubious. This was the same person that had picked out Romilda Vane from a handful of random people, knowing his luck and hers put together she was bound to pick out someone else from his past that he didn't get along with.

"He wanted to move out of where he was already staying because he still lives with his mum. That's kind of depressing for someone that is twenty five I suppose," Natasha said, the last statement mainly directed towards herself. Harry frowned as he realised that the person she was talking about could have been in his year if they went to Hogwarts, and to be honest if they were living in the UK right now, there was a great chance that they were.

"Did-did they go to Hogwarts?" Harry asked, a little timidly, not sure if he really wanted to hear the answer and find out that it was some Slytherin he didn't get on with, or a particular Slytherin that immediately jumped to his mind whenever he thought of that house.

"Erm...doesn't say. But it does say they are British so I'm assuming they did," Natasha said with a shrug. She glanced up from the parchment and once again looked over his shoulder with a smile. Before she could skip down the steps without him being able to stop her again, he grabbed her by the elbow and turned to see who it was and his worst nightmare was brought to life.

Down on the pavement, across the road from the house was Draco Malfoy, looking down at a piece of parchment, clutched in his hand and then up at the sign that said Grimmauld Place, clearly checking he'd gotten the right street. His blonde hair was as bright and shiny as ever, and his features were just as chiselled and gaunt looking as when Harry had last saw him, the day after the war when he had returned his wand. He was still as slim and was wearing a muggle styled suit instead of robes, clearly forewarned that they were going to be in a muggle street.

"Fuck," Harry breathed and rubbed a hand over his face.

"What? What is it? Do you know him?" Natasha asked Harry, worry lacing her voice at his reaction.

"Yes. We went to Hogwarts together. To say we didn't get on is an understatement," Harry said, his eyes never leaving Draco Malfoy once. Of course he was curious about him, who wouldn't be? It was only natural, wasn't it? No one had really seen or heard from him since the end of the war, he'd kept to himself, kept his head down.

"How bad can it be Harry? So you got into a few arguments at school, six years ago, so what?" Natasha asked him.

"No, you don't understand Natasha, we hated each other. Like despised each other. I really don't think that would go away. I really don't think so," Harry said shaking his head, still not lifting his gaze from Draco Malfoy, while the blonde waited, glancing at the watch on his wrist, not knowing that he was being watched by Harry Potter, only meters away.

"Do you want my opinion Harry?" Natasha said gently, in such a way that made Harry stop his unblinking gaze at Malfoy and look back at her. Her eyes looked kind of disappointed and her mouth was set in a straight non quivering line. He'd trusted her so far, so he thought it only right to be able to trust her opinion, so he nodded.

"I interviewed this guy, yeah? And he was so gracious and so polite and well spoken and he admitted everything to me. He admitted that he had been a Death Eater and that he had fought on the wrong side of the war, but you should have heard the way he told me. He was so sorry, so, so sorry. He's tried to make up for it since but I can tell he still carries it with him and that he has changed since he was in the war. I'm sorry but someone who wasn't sorry would not have revealed all of that to a complete stranger, who was in the position to give them a place to live.

"He's clearly very troubled when it comes to this, but the way he was completely honest with me and not full of bullshit that he thought I wanted to hear, that's why I choose him, because I knew that's what you would have done if you were in his position you would have told every little bit of truth," Natasha said.

Harry looked back across to Draco, who was looking at his watch once again and looking up and down the street anxiously. He felt Natasha's hand on his elbow and sighed. She was kind of right, even though he wasn't entirely thrilled about it. He was still a little dubious though. It was one thing to consider Romilda living with him, but Malfoy? He knew that would not go down well with Ron and Hermione.

"Come on Harry, the past is the past. You will never know unless you give him the chance," Natasha said softly and Harry looked at her again, completely torn. She was talking so much sense but the niggling voice in the back of his head that sounded like Hermione was telling him it was a ridiculous idea.

"Okay. I'll give him a chance but if he doesn't want in when he finds out it's me, I'm not going to argue with him and try and persuade him other wise, alright?" Harry said, ignoring the voice and going with Natasha's instinct. Natasha quickly nodded, her mouth quirking up into a grin before she was skipping down the steps, revealing herself at the bottom. He had made the decision on the basis that he thought that Malfoy would surely say no, and because he was secretly kind of curious about the other man.

Harry waited a few seconds before following her so that they could greet and Natasha could explain the situation. He hesitated and contemplated just apparating away. He couldn't however bring himself to do so, his curiosity was starting to outweigh the thought that Malfoy would refuse. He wasn't completely sure what he was so curious about, he'd barely even thought about what Draco Malfoy was up to since he left Hogwarts, he'd not exactly had the time to, but now that he was practically stood on his doorstep he couldn't think about anything else.

He watched as Malfoy nodded as Natasha explained everything that was going on, watching how the nods stopped and the eyes were starting to widen, how he straightened up and his smile turned into a frown. Harry took this opportunity to step away from the house, revealing himself. Draco immediately noticed him behind Natasha and she turned, biting her bottom lip. Harry took a deep breath and approached them.

"Hello, Malfoy," Harry said politely as he fell into step beside Natasha.

"P-Potter...you- you're the one that wants a housemate?" Malfoy said, his eyes darting back and forth between Harry and Natasha, clearly very surprised. Harry supposed he would be too, if he had turned up to an unknown place, expecting to be shown around a strangers house and consider moving in with them only to be told that it was actually an old enemy that he had hoped never to see again.

"Yes. Because of obvious reasons, I had to put the advert in the paper under a different name," Harry said, attempting to keep his composure and grace, especially in front of Malfoy after what he had heard Natasha say about how well spoken he was and such.

"And like I was just explaining, of course you can change your mind and decide not to consider the opportunity, we do understand that it is a big commitment to bring yourself into a situation like this," Natasha said. Harry nodded and shuffled his feet, trying not to look as uncomfortable as he felt with Malfoy watching him so closely.

"Do I have to decide now?" Malfoy asked, finally flicking his gaze back to Natasha again.

"It would make the most sense to. There isn't any point in continuing into the house if you object to the idea of living with Mr Potter already. If we go into the house, you're committing yourself to the idea, and the decision is down to Mr Potter as to whom he chooses," Natasha said. She shuffled the bundles of parchment in her arms, clearly as uneasy at Malfoy's gaze as Harry had been.

Malfoy looked at both of them before looking up and down the street, his mind clearly working furiously, possibly coming up with some sort of plan, or maybe even considering moving in with Harry, Harry wasn't sure, he couldn't read Malfoy like he could his friends.

"I need to move out," Harry heard him mumble to himself while he faced away from Harry. He glanced at Natasha, who was grinning. His heart was beating hard in his chest as images flashed through his mind, of their time at Hogwarts, during the war, giving back his wand and scenarios of what it would be like living with Malfoy and he wondered if it was too late to back out now and just say he changed his mind.

"I am prepared to commit to this," Malfoy said at last, focusing his attention towards Natasha. Harry blinked a couple of times, wondering if he really was hearing right. Malfoy was prepared to live with him. In the same house. He looked at Natasha again who had launched into an explanation of having to sign the parchment to make sure there would be no stories surfacing about the whereabouts or the inside of Harry's house. Harry had been sure Malfoy was going to refuse and say he'd look for another place to live. He was half counting on it, even though he was still secretly curious.

Before Harry was really ready to, they were turning towards the house and Natasha was looking at him expectedly, so that he would reveal the address, lifting the charm so that Malfoy could see it. Harry sighed, wondering how the hell he ever got into this situation before stepping up beside her.

"Malfoy, this is 12 Grimmauld Place,"

* * *

><p>"I just really do not see this working out Natasha. The idea itself is just ridiculous," Harry whispered animatedly to Natasha where they were gathered in the kitchen, next to the cooker, while Malfoy wandered around the rest of the house. Harry was subconsciously picking at fingernails and cuticles, a nervous habit, anxious about Malfoy going through his house, his godfather's things. He was itching to follow him to keep an eye on things but Natasha insisted on letting him explore on his own as they had done with Romilda.<p>

"I don't know Harry; I think you've been over reacting. He's been nothing but polite and gracious and he hasn't run screaming from the house yet. Doesn't it say a lot that he even wanted a look around in the first place?" Natasha said. Harry cringed and brought his hand up to his mouth to chew at his fingernails instead, only to have it beat down by Natasha who believed it a disgusting trait.

"Who else applied? Give me their names and what they did," Harry asked quickly. He wanted any other option, anything but this. It didn't even seem feasible to have Malfoy living in his house.

"I don't see why it matters; they were useless in the interview stage anyway. Erm, there was an old retired witch called Bella, she was nice but she kind of smelled of cats and firewhisky and-"

"Bella? No definitely not, who else?" Harry said, cutting her off with sharp images of Bellatrix Lestrange's look of triumph as Sirius fell through the black veil running through his mind. He knew it couldn't possibly be her but the name wouldn't bring any other image but her.

Natasha was scowling at him for cutting her short but he didn't care, just gestured for her to talk before Malfoy came back down. "Uh, a wizard just out of school, unemployed and really shit grades. Like Troll grades for most, except muggle studies and he was muggle born, so that explains that. Also had a strong smell of pot lingering around him, I _assumed _that you wouldn't want someone like that hanging around the house," Natasha said, making it very clear she was upset at questioning her judgement.

"No, you were right, of course I don't," Harry said gently. He was twitching his fingers, still scratching away at the cuticles on his thumbs with his fingers.

"There was only one more, a guy called Cormac McLaggen, he almost took the place of Romilda but he was a bit pompus and talked about himself a lot, a bit of a bullshitter I think," Natasha said.

"Sounds about right. He went to Hogwarts too. Just my luck that I got all the people I either hate or would be absolutely no use," Harry mumbled. He groaned and ran his hand through his hair before moving over to the window.

Would he really be able to live with Malfoy? He seemed like the only option left. Romilda was out of the question. He would never be able to accept anything off of her, believing it to be spiked with love potion and he could not trust her not to go blabbing about his personal life. Would Malfoy really be any better though? Had he really changed as much as Natasha thought he had? Was this all a stupid idea? Should he have listened to Hermione in the first place? Probably.

Someone cleared their throat from the doorway and Harry quickly turned. Natasha was smiling at Draco, who nodded back but was frowning and mainly focused on Harry. Harry stepped closer, next to Natasha and attempted a confident smile, but wasn't sure if it came across that way.

"This is a very grand, old house," Malfoy said. Harry paused before he nodded. Malfoy stopped frowning and raised his chin a little. "That tapestry on the first floor, in the drawing room...it has- well, it has my name on it,"

"Yes. This is the house of Black, Sirius being the last descendant, left it to me, his God son," Harry explained. He noticed a slight twitch develop in Malfoy's right eye and he straightened himself even higher.

"Of course. It's very warm, welcoming even," Malfoy said, glancing around the kitchen as he talked, sweeping one hand over the nearest surface. Harry could feel the magic of the house stir at the touch and shuddered, wondering what this could possibly mean.

"So you're still interested?" Natasha asked and both men looked at her, one with a scowl and the other with a wide smile.

"Oh yes, most certainly," Malfoy said. Harry shuffled his feet and Malfoy's smile turned into a smirk.

"Then it's just left up to Harry to decide, we'll of course contact you in a couple of days on the outcome either way..." Natasha said. Harry went back to the window as she approached Malfoy and explained everything again. Harry had no idea what his decision was going to be. He needed another opinion.

* * *

><p><em>So, my edits for this first chapter kind of turned into re-writes. seriously, I've practically written this chapter about three times. I was getting a little concerned that I would never be able to finish it, that I'd just keep re-writing the same chapter over and over. <em>

_I'm going to apologise now, in advance because this will probably take forever to write and finish and post it all. But I'm hoping that I'll get there in the end, and that people enjoy this. I've already said I want to take my time with it._

_Quick question, was this too long? I'm trying to make my chapters longer but I don't know if I went a bit over board on this one. It would be lovely to hear feedback on that._

_And so I begin the journey of another story. I hope you enjoy it._


	2. Chapter 2

This has been sitting in a word document waiting patiently to be edited for two three days now. I kept getting distracted. And I should probably warn that I edited this at one in the morning so a couple may have slipped through. I'll never learn.

Anyway I wish there was a way that I could keep you updated on my progress on this, since the posting is going to be fairly random and it all depends on how quick I can write and edit, I actually just thought and developed a way of doing this right now. If you want to keep up with how I'm getting on you can follow my Tumblr I just created. Stephanniexo . tumblr . com. [without the spaces obviously] My personal is attatched to that too but you don't have to worry about that, it's not important.

I doubt it will be very interesting but I'll try my best. This way I can also reply to all your comments and criticism rather than spamming your inboxes, which I've never really been comfortable doing before.

Anyway enjoy and I look forward to hearing what you have to say.

* * *

><p>Part 2.<p>

Harry sighed as he sat down at the large kitchen table with his dinner, a bowl of stew that he had just finished making for himself. He'd actually adjusted pretty well to living on his own, being able to cook, thanks to some help from Molly and her cookbooks. He started to eat as he picked up one of the two applications that Natasha had given him to look over and consider. He still couldn't quite believe his luck in the two people he had to choose from to live with.

Even though he really didn't want to live with either of them, he didn't really have a choice. He could keep putting the advert in the paper every day until he found someone he liked but that could take, weeks, months even and he didn't really want to wait that long, he wanted it sorted now. It was now down to picking the lesser of two evils. Romilda; who could potentially poison him, or Malfoy; who could also potentially poison him. Of course Malfoy would be able to purposefully poison him, he owned an apothecary after all so he'd even be able to successfully bump him off, Romilda would probably do it by accident and Harry couldn't decide which option would be worse. He felt like banging his head against a brick wall to see if that would bang the decision into him.

What Natasha had said seemed pretty right though, Malfoy had seemed to have changed. Harry found out from reading his application that he was involved in all sorts of charities to do with the aftermath of the war and a number of other things too, some of which Harry was involved with as well, and he'd had no idea. The doubt was still there though, had he really changed as much as it looked as if he had?

The fire that was crackling in the fireplace next to his kitchen table, suddenly glowed green and Harry looked up form Malfoy's application to see Ron and Hermione stumble from the fire, dusting down their robes. Hermione was shrugging off her cloak before she even said hello.

"Hey," Harry said with a nod at them both as Ron sniffed at the air and cast his eyes towards the stove.

"Is that stew?" Ron asked and Harry nodded, gesturing his hand towards the pot on the stove and the contents started to empty themselves into an already waiting bowl.

"Do you want some 'Mione?" Harry asked as Ron settled at the table beside Harry with a spoon ready, waiting on Harry levitating the bowl over to him.

"No thanks Harry. I, unlike Ron, can only eat one portion of dinner," Hermione said softly with a fond, if not a little exasperated, glance at Ron.

"But this is stew Hermione, there's always room for stew," Ron said, tucking into the bowl as soon as it hit the table. Hermione just 'hmm'd and sat down on the other side of Harry, Ron didn't say anymore, his mouth full of food.

"What are you working on?" Hermione asked, frowning at the parchments around Harry, squinting to read them at an angle.

"This isn't work, it's the applications for the housemates," Harry explained.

"Was that today? Who did you get? Are they nice? Are they normal?" Hermione asked, pulling Romilda's application to her.

"You'd never believe me, that's why I asked you to come over,"

"And there I was thinking you just liked our company," Ron said as he poured himself a cup of pumpkin juice from the jug in the middle of the three of them.

"Romilda Vane?" Hermione exclaimed looking up over the parchment at Harry with wide eyes. "I told you, you would get the crazy ones!"

"That's nothing, guess who else," Harry said solemnly handing over Malfoy's application he had kept in his hand. He pushed his bowl away, having finished eating and took a sip of juice as he watched Hermione's expression change from surprised to complete outrage.

"Malfoy? Draco Malfoy?" Hermione said, quieter than when she had found out about Romilda, but still loud enough for Ron to hear and choke on his mouthful of stew.

Harry thumped him on the back until he stopped coughing and Ron looked at him with pity. "Blimey Harry, you couldn't have asked for worse people,"

"Tell me about it, and that was without them knowing it was me in the first place. What's worse, is Malfoy was given the opportunity to back out and he didn't! Just said yes and carried on as if it was normal. And now the decision is up to me," Harry explained. Ron and Hermione were both looking at him now, slightly uncertain, unsure of how to help him decide. "I don't know who to choose!"

"Well was there anyone else that applied? Anyone else that Natasha didn't think would be any good but are actually better than those two?" Hermione asked, looking back at the two applications in her hands as if hoping that they would change to someone easier to choose from.

"You've no idea how shitty my luck is Hermione. Who would you choose between an old drunk witch called Bella-" Hermione screwed up her face, clearly getting the same images of Bellatrix as he had when he had heard the name, "A thick junkie teenager-" Hermione's expression turned to looking slightly disgusted, "And Cormac McLaggen?"

Ron's spoon clanked into his bowl and he started quickly shaking his head. "No way are you going to start living with Cormac McLaggen," Ron said his voice definite and determined.

"I wasn't planning to," Harry said softly, with a small smile at how determined Ron was about the idea. He glanced at Hermione who was smiling too.

"I can't live with any of these people, but I've got to choose one of them, I would prefer a housemate sooner rather than later," Harry said. He sighed and leant back in his chair looking at his two best friends. Hermione started reading the applications again, properly this time, biting down on her bottom lip and Ron was staring into space as he finished his stew.

"Romilda wouldn't be so bad...I mean I'm sure she would happily do anything you asked her to. You could get her to make your meals and do all the chores and everything," Ron said looking back at Harry with a suggestive shrug.

"She's not a slave Ron, and I don't think Harry was planning on paying someone to come and live with him," Hermione said.

"I don't think Romilda would mind, she worships Harry," Ron said. Harry gave him a reproachful look, knowing better than to admit to considering it in Hermione's company.

"Yeah, that's all well and good until she gets sick of it and realises what an arsehole Harry is for doing that to her and moves out, leaving Harry exactly where he started," Hermione said, lowering the parchment and glaring at Ron.

"Hey, I'm not an arsehole," Harry said frowning at her, half offended and half just trying to steer her away from causing an argument.

"I know you're not Harry, I know you would never treat someone like that, I'm just saying you would be if you did treat her like that. Frankly I'm slightly concerned about Ron and his idea of acceptable treatment towards someone else, no matter how morally wrong they are," Hermione said, glaring at Ron now over where she was reading Malfoy's application.

"I was only joking Hermione jeez," Ron said, pushing his bowl away at last and leaning back in his chair. He looked at Harry with a look that said he wasn't joking and that he thought Hermione was overreacting, they had shared this look so many times, Harry knew it off by heart.

"You know if I didn't know that this was Malfoy, I'd actually consider him. His application is excellent," Hermione said, ignoring Ron now that she was focused.

"Natasha did say that he was the best out of the lot of them. She said he told her everything in the interview, admitted to everything of his past and looked as if he was genuinely sorry about what he had done. It was the fact that he had told the truth no matter how ugly it was that made her choose him. She thought it was something I would have done, had the positions been reversed," Harry explained, and that spark of curiosity flared again as he wondered if Malfoy could possibly have changed so much. All he could remember of him was how horrible they had been towards each other during school and how much he had hated him.

"She's got a point. As much as I hate to admit it, it really looks as if he's changed. Did he seem different when you met him again?" Hermione asked.

"Not really. I mean he was really polite but he still seemed really snarky and pompous," Harry said, "He was still like the Malfoy from school," he added with a slight scowl. He'd forgotten how much he had disliked Malfoy in school until the flashes of memories of spat words and vicious spells sprang to the front of his mind. Could he put all of that behind him? Could either of them?

"Well, I think a pro and con list is the way to go," Ron said, leaning forward on his crossed arms on the table. He'd said it with such conviction Harry was almost tempted to go and get a sheet of parchment to start one straight away.

"A pro and con list? Isn't that a bit unpredictable? I'd be making the decision on the out come of the list and not what I really actually wanted," Harry said, looking at Hermione, thinking she would agree with him but it seemed Hermione was more surprised that she hadn't come up with the idea herself.

"Well your pro and con list would actually reflect what you really wanted anyway, for the pro and cons would apply only to you, if you see what I mean, that's a really good idea Ron," Hermione said nodding and looking at Ron as if she was remembering why she was engaged to him in the first place, and forgetting about Ron's lack of judgement just minutes ago. Ron took the compliment with pride and sat up a little straighter, grinning wide.

Before Harry could protest any more, Hermione had taken a sheaf of parchment from her robes and a quill and was already heading each side of the page, one with Romilda and one with Malfoy. He really shouldn't have been surprised that she even had all of that with her but he was anyway. He glanced at Ron again and realised he wasn't getting away with this anymore.

"Okay, give me a con about living with Romilda," Hermione said, underlining the word con and looking up at Harry.

"Well I think the most obvious one is that she might try to enchant me with a love potion," Harry said. Hermione nodded and wrote it down and asked him to keep going. He was starting to regret thinking that it was a good idea to involve Ron and Hermione, he didn't know if he really wanted an honest answer about who he should choose anymore.

* * *

><p>Harry sat up in bed later that night, brushing the tip of his quill over his chin as he tried to think about any more pro's and con's to living with Romilda Vane or Draco Malfoy. He knew there were no more but he was kind of afraid of admitting what that meant.<p>

Romilda Vane

**Con**

_Tried to give me love potion- always a possibility she'd do it again. Would never be able to accept anything from her because of this._

_Don't know her really at all – makes her unpredictable_

_Talks too much_

_Absolutely nothing in common_

_May leak private things to the press._

**Pro**

_Probably kinder and nicer to talk to than Malfoy is._

_Less likely to try and kill me._

_Would do things for me if I asked._

He'd added the last one of Romilda's pro list because Ron had insisted that it was a good thing, even though he had to say it while Hermione was at the toilet and he couldn't add it until they had gone home because Hermione would have freaked.

Draco Malfoy

**Con**

_Used to be a Death Eater and follow Voldemort_

_Hated each other at school – possibly still do, makes things a bit awkward._

_He's a git._

Ron had also added the last one of Draco's con list but Harry couldn't really argue with it, for Malfoy was a git, unfortunately that kind of summed up the rest of his con's. There was nothing left to add after that.

**Pro's**

_Appears to have changed since school._

_Share a lot of interests – Quidditch, chess, some of the same charities._

_Know him well enough to be able to predict what he may or may not do._

_Could come in handy for work if he knows any Death Eaters still out there._

_Would probably keep to himself._

_Kind of attractive._

Harry had added the last pro to Malfoy's list long after Ron and Hermione had left and had written it in very small letters. It took a long time for him to admit that to himself and had kept it kind of open ended. There was no denying that Malfoy was attractive, but he had hummed and hared about whether to add it to the pro or con list. He still wasn't sure where it would stay.

Either way though, there was no getting away from the fact that Malfoy's pro's outweighed his con's and Romilda's con's outweighed her pro's and Harry really wasn't sure if he was ready to accept the inevitable decision. So he had sat up for the past hour and fifteen minutes trying to think of any more and had come up completely blank, everything was there, set out in black and white. As much as he didn't want to admit it, his decision was made whether he liked it or not. And maybe, subconsciously his decision had been made from the very beginning.

* * *

><p>"Draco?" Draco's mother said softly from the door of his bedroom and he turned from where he was hanging up his cloak into his wardrobe. He was a little surprised to see his mother stepping into his room, it had been a while since she had been in there, so he was a little concerned.<p>

"Are you okay?" he asked stepping forward in an action to help her over to sit down. She shook her head and smiled softly as she walked towards the chair by his window.

"Of course I am, I'm not an invalid Draco," his mother said, her tone containing a bit of a bite to it which made him drop the subject immediately. She settled herself down on the chair and looked out of the wide window over the entrance of the Manor, at the pathway up.

"I had dinner in town, while I was there, I don't need anything tonight," Draco said gently and he sat down on the edge of his bed, taking a wild guess that she wanted to have some kind of conversation, and not wanting to miss a bit of it in case she had something important to say.

"I thought you might have," his mother commented absently as she turned her attention from the window and what was outside to the curtains around it. "We should really get new curtains for in here, these are getting a little shabby," she said, running a hand over the soft green velvet.

Draco frowned at her and wondered if she remembered that he had been out to see the house he had hoped to move into that afternoon. Of course he hadn't told her that the house happened to belong to Harry Potter, not yet, he'd only just got home. He wasn't even sure if he was going to tell her yet, maybe once he knew if he was actually going to move in.

"I went to see that house today," Draco said absently brushing imaginary dust and fluff from his suit trousers.

"Yes. I know. How was it?" she said, her voice distant as if she wasn't really interested, but still focused on the curtains instead.

"It was...good. Yeah it was a nice place. Very big. I just have to wait on the person deciding whether to agree to let me move in or not," Draco said.

"I'm sure they will," his mother said. She turned away from the curtains and rose from her chair looking around the room, a small smile on her face. "You know, I think the whole room could be re-decorated, a fresh start almost,"

"A-a fresh start?" Draco stuttered watching her movements around the room, a little scared now, he hadn't even moved out yet and she was talking about re-decortating, replacing him. What had happened to the woman that had refused to talk to him for a week after he had told her he wanted to move out? It was almost as if she had taken a completely different out look and couldn't wait to get rid of him.

"You'd get to pick the colours of course, Draco, it's still your room. I just want it to be nice and fresh for you if you ever decide you want to stay one night, maybe, if you wanted too." His mother said turning from the wall and smiling directly at him and he could see the sadness in her eyes again.

"Yeah, that would be...nice," Draco said, unable to find anything else to say, even though he appreciated it very much, more than he would ever admit to her. Because even though he was preparing to fly the nest, the manor would always be a place to return to and call home while his mother was still there.

She smiled at him and walked over to the bed to grasp his shoulder for a second. She kissed the top of his head and he squeezed the hand on his shoulder. "I'll be in my room if you need me Draco, for now though, goodnight,"

Draco was left to his own thoughts once she had left and shut the door behind her. At least if he did move in with Potter, he would have somewhere to go if he became too insufferable. It kind of surprised him how the thought of living with Potter wasn't as disconcerting as he had originally thought it would be. He wasn't thrilled about it but he wasn't that bothered either. He saw that house. It was big enough for more than two, so he was sure that they would be able to find their own space in there and keep out from under each others nose. Of course there was also the fact that he had thought up a plan concerning that house. All he needed to do was get a few details and everything could change. He wasn't sure, but it might actually be interesting living with Harry Potter, he could find out all sorts of _interesting_ things.

* * *

><p>"Good morning Harry," Natasha smiled at him as he entered his office the next morning, flicking through memo's that had followed him all the way up. He smiled back and muttered a hello, hoping to just deal with the memos and be able to leave to go out on the field as quickly as possible.<p>

He carried on from her office into his, leaving the door open, hoping to go back through it any minute, as soon as he was done with the memos he had. He always started off optimistic and then an hour or two would go by and he would start to loose that again, still he had to try.

"There are a couple of messages for you that you need to answer prompt-ish, but apart from that, there's nothing else. I'll handle these, I can tell you're dying to get out. If there is anything urgent, I'll get a message to you," Natasha said, after following him into his office and taking the memo's from him. He grinned at her and quickly sat down at his desk to respond to the messages left for him.

"Thank you," he said gratefully. Natasha shrugged and left the office again, carrying on with her job. She was always there while he was out, picking up the slack that he got away with and leaving bits of it for him when he came back and had time. She knew how much he valued being out and fighting the bad guys with everyone else.

Harry was finished with the messages within fifteen minutes and was passing through again, swinging his cloak over his shoulders. He stopped at Natasha's desk where she was quickly writing out a letter for the head of Goblin liaisons. She held up a finger to stop him from talking before she was finished her sentence. When she was done she looked up expectantly.

"I'm off out now, wont be back until late, I suspect, but if I could get you to leave the contact addresses for the two applicants for the housemates on my desk, I would be grateful," Harry said as he fixed the collar of his cloak. Natasha's face brightened and she leaned forward further over the desk.

"You've made your decision already? Who have you chosen?" she asked.

"You'll just have to wait and see," Harry grinned. He tucked his wand carefully in it's holder on his belt and turned for the door. "I'll see you later!" he called on his way out.

* * *

><p>"Are you really sure about this?" Ron asked, a few hours later as they were leaving the house of an elderly witch that they had been called to on numerous occasions because she kept thinking that her nephew was sending her cursed letters, to try and get his inheritance early.<p>

"Positive. Hey, it was your idea to do the pro and con list, it's not my fault that Malfoy came up on top," Harry said with a shrug, even though that wasn't strictly true. It was kind of his fault that Malfoy came across better as he was the one that decided what traits were good and what ones weren't.

"But it's _Malfoy_, he's a git, he's always been a git," Ron said making a face as he did so.

"Yeah but hopefully he'll keep out of the way the majority of the time. I think the house is big enough for us to keep our distance and live as harmoniously as possible. And you never know, he might have changed," Harry said, looking down at his watch to check the time as they went down an empty side road so that they could apparate away.

"I still think you're mental. Romilda would have done anything for you," Ron said, scuffing his shoe over a stone on the path making it skitter along the street.

"And slipped me a love potion in the process, yeah that would have been ideal," Harry said sarcastically, giving Ron a look to ask if he was completely crazy in thinking that would ever be a good idea.

"At least you would have been happy. I don't see you being very happy living with Malfoy, for all you know he could slip you an undetectable poison," Ron said quietly, gently shrugging, feeling a little ashamed for even bringing up the whole Romilda thing again. He wasn't sure who hated the idea more, Hermione or Harry.

"Ron, are we Auror's or not? I think I'll be careful enough not to get myself killed by a stupid poison. I can handle poisons better than love potions," Harry shrugged too and hit Ron on the shoulder, playfully, "Anyway, the decision has been made, we'll just have to wait and see. I've got that court hearing in half an hour, I better get back to the Ministry. Will you be okay to take up with Skivington for that raid in Manchester?"

"Of course, do you want me to tell Hermione about who you have chosen?" Ron asked, looking across at Harry, curiously as he rummaged in his pockets for his wand.

"If you want," Harry shrugged, not seeing the difference in who told her, it didn't effect what her reaction was going to be, even though he wasn't too sure if he could predict it, Hermione's reactions were never quite what you expected them to be. It wouldn't surprise him if she already knew who he was going to choose from the very beginning.

"Expect a floo call from her, at least, later tonight then. I'm sure she'll have something to say about it," Ron said.

"You know, you are taking this better than I expected you to," Harry commented, looking up at Ron as they both got into position to apparate away separately.

Ron smiled and shrugged again. "I figure that it's your choice and I know anything I'm going to say isn't going to make you change your mind, I'm just glad you didn't end up choosing McLaggan."

Harry smiled back. "Thanks," he said. Ron shrugged for a third time and sheepishly grinned.

"I'll see you later, maybe tonight if Hermione drags me along," he said. Harry nodded and they bid their farewells and apparated away.

* * *

><p>Harry took a deep breath as he sealed each envelope with his wax seal, that had his initials on it and stood up to take them over to Nicholas, his owl that was waiting on the window ledge. As soon as the letters were away, there would be no turning back; he would have to live with Draco Malfoy. He was really starting to doubt his thoroughness with his lists and whether it was really worth getting a housemate after all.<p>

He stood for a good five minutes with the letters in his hand, wondering whether to send them or not while Nicholas impatiently hopped from foot to foot and ruffled his feathers. Finally just before Nicholas took off, having grown tired waiting, he gave him the letters and told him to go before he could change his mind again, which he promptly did, clearly not wanting to wait around any longer anyway.

He sat down at the kitchen table and stared into the fire that was crackling merrily there, contemplating many things ranging from the decision he had just made to what he could have for dinner later. It wasn't until the flames turned familiarly green that he was brought away from his contemplations and drawn to the figure stepping out from them.

"Hey, want some tea?" Harry offered straight away as Hermione shook soot from her hair.

"Please. None of that green chi stuff you like though, that stuff is revolting, just normal tea please," Hermione said, dropping her cloak onto the back of the seat opposite from the one Harry was sitting at. Harry flicked his hand in the direction of the tea pot already sat on the stove and it began to simmer.

"I take it Ron told you then," Harry said, leaning forward, resting his chin on his hand as Hermione smiled at him. At least she was smiling, that was a good sign.

"Yeah, as soon as he got in. I got the impression he wanted me to come over straight away and start giving you hell," Hermione said over the noise of the gently whistling kettle.

"But you thought it best that I settle down and get comfortable first and then come over and give me hell," Harry said, grinning.

"Naturally," Hermione shrugged and gave a small wink.

"So you're okay with the decision?" Harry asked seriously now, straightening up and leaning forward on his elbows.

"Of course I am. It's up to you and I don't see how anything I can say will change your mind. I expect you've already sent a letter letting them know too, so it's not like I can stop you, maybe that's why Ron was so eager to get me here so quick," Hermione said, the last part contemplative as she looked to her left, out of the window.

The kettle was whistling loudly now and Harry got up to pour the boiling water in the two waiting mugs he had ready, knowing from experience that hot water and wandless magic did not go well, even if you were an expert at wandless magic, which he wasn't. He was good but he was no expert like Hermione was. He waited until he had sat down again and handed Hermione her tea before continuing their conversation.

"Ron seemed really okay with the idea though. He said he couldn't change my mind so there was no point in trying," Harry said taking a sip of his tea and wincing at how hot it was.

"He probably hoped I would kick up enough of a fuss for both of us," Hermione said, blowing on her own tea.

"But you're not. You're really okay with this? Tell me the truth," Harry said, adding the last sentence when he saw how contrived Hermione's smile was.

She studied him for a moment and he half felt like a book that she was flicking the pages on. Eventually she sighed and leant back in her chair, hand wrapped around her mug. "I am okay with it. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little concerned about your welfare, but I know you well enough to know that you can take on someone like Malfoy if you need to, and I know that you are mature and responsible enough to act like an adult around him. He on the other hand I'm not sure, but if he's changed as much as he appears to have done then I don't see why not,"

"Thanks. Let's hope it works out that way," Harry said. Hermione shrugged and sipped her tea. They both sat in silence for a little while before they changed the subject. There was nothing more to be said on the matter, nothing more could be done, so there was no point in discussing it any further.

They eventually finished their tea and Harry's stomach propelled him into making dinner and Hermione agreed to stay, having not eaten anything yet. They prepared a simple fry-up together, working as a team and talking about random stuff as they did so. Sometimes Harry liked it better when it was just him and Hermione. He loved Ron, he did, but their friendship was different and sometimes that got in the way of how he and Hermione were able to act with each other. Harry could discuss anything with Hermione, where as with Ron, there were limits and taboo subjects.

"So what happened to that guy with the blond floppy hair that you were seeing, you haven't mentioned him in weeks?" Hermione said as she cut into her fried bread, after their discussion about what had happened in the court room earlier that day had ended. Hermione had been there during the trial Harry had attended because the suspect had not only practiced extremely dark magic in front of muggles but had also sexually abused a house elf. It had been a relief to see him get carted off to Azkaban that day as Harry had found it difficult to even look at him without showing any signs of disgust.

"Eh, he started to leave his clothes here, even putting them into my wardrobe and stuff. It was starting to get a bit too serious for my liking," Harry said with a shrug, pushing his baked beans around on his plate.

Hermione shook her head, chuckling sadly. "Do you even _realise_ that whenever anything looks like it's going to turn the slightest bit serious with someone that you just cut them off?"

"What are you talking about? I've been in serious relationships before," Harry said, looking up at her.

"Oh yeah? Name one," Hermione challenged, one eyebrow quirked in a way that only she had perfected.

Harry narrowed his eyes, accepting the challenge but knowing almost immediately that he wouldn't be able to come up with much. "Well there was...uh..." he frowned and looked down at his plate. Surely there was one. "Erm..." he could feel Hermione's gloating eyes on the top of his head and wanted his brain to hurry up and kick into gear. "Ginny. She was serious," Harry said finally but knew before he was finished that it was stupid to even bring Ginny up.

"That was six years ago Harry and it only lasted six months, not to mention you promptly started preferring men as soon as it ended. That's not what I call serious," Hermione said.

Harry pouted but knew that she was right anyway. "Well I don't see why it matters if I like to get serious or not. I'm still young. I can still have fun,"

"Are you trying to say Ron and I don't have fun because we are engaged?" Hermione said, teasingly, knowing that's not what Harry was implying but enjoying watching him squirm anyway.

"Of course not! Hermione I just meant-" Harry glanced up and saw the smirk twitching at her lips and narrowed his eyes. "You're only kidding," he shook his head and flicked a piece of bacon in her direction. Unluckily she was able to deflect it with a twitch of her fingers and send it straight back to him where he had to think quick enough to transfigure it into a butterfly to stop it from smacking him in the face.

In his haste however, the bacon purely sprouted a couple of spotted feeble butterfly wings and struggled to keep it's self in the air. Harry frowned and watched it struggle, sitting back in his chair as he did so.

"Huh," He said finally and Hermione looked away from the flying bacon and frowned at him. "A flying pig," Harry finished and looked at Hermione. Within seconds they could barely control their laughter.

* * *

><p>"Okay, I think that's the last box," Draco grunted as he shuffled down the narrow hallway, carrying in the last large heavy box of his stuff. It was moving day at last.<p>

"Are you sure? 'cause my arms feel as if they're about to drop off if I have to lug in anymore of your shit Draco," Blaise said over the banister from up one flight of stairs.

"Pretty sure," Draco said dumping the box at the bottom of the stairs, the trinkets and items inside not destined for his bedroom but for around the house instead. He had to put his own touch on it somehow, whether Harry wanted him to or not.

"I still can't believe you are choosing to live with Potter rather than your mother," Pansy said, having appeared at his side, just finished walking down the stairs, Blaise not too far behind. "I know for a fact that your mother isn't that bad to live with,"

"That's not the point though Pans. That's not why I even moved out. You said it yourself that it was pathetic that I was still living with her," Draco said, stretching his arms above his head to crack the knot out of his back, from bending and lifting his heavy boxes and furniture.

"Where is he anyway? I would have thought he wanted to keep an eye on you moving in," Blaise asked, glancing around, peering in the direction of the kitchen where he had believed Potter had been keeping out of the way, but had expected to see him appear from at some point before now.

"He got called in at the Ministry, some sort of emergency or something," Draco said, absently scratching the back of his neck as he frowned at the curtained portrait just inches from them, wondering what was under it, having been given strict instructions from Potter himself to not to even attempt to look.

"And he just left you here alone, with two of your friends? Merlin, he's more trusting than he looks that one," Blaise said smirking over at Pansy.

"Don't be daft. He's an Auror, he left a look out," Draco said absently still, running his hand over the curtain that hid the portrait, intrigued as ever.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," a new voice said from the entrance of the stairs down to the kitchen making all three of them jump, and Draco whip his hand away. "Not unless you want to pop your eardrums anyway," Hermione Granger said with a shrug, stepping forward, a tray of cups bobbling along behind her.

"What is it?" Draco asked, curiosity getting in the way of his dislike for the woman.

"Not worth talking about. Harry will probably show you later anyway. I made tea, I figured you'd be a little thirsty after all that," Granger said gesturing to the couple of boxes left at the foot of the stairs as she walked further into the hallway the tray bobbed to halt in front of them.

"You made us tea?" Blaise asked, eyebrows risen in surprise with a mixture of suspicion there too.

"Yes. You can check for poisons all you want you won't find any, now drink up. I'm sure Harry won't be long," Granger said. She turned on her heel and went back off down into the basement, without another word. The three friends looked at each other before Draco stepped forward and muttered a simple revealing spell on the tea.

"No poison," Draco muttered.

"Told you!" Granger called up the stairs and Draco couldn't help scowling in that direction. _Bloody nosey know it all_. The three of them eventually took the tea and began to drink.

"come on, I want to show you something," Draco whispered, just in case Granger was still listening in on them. He moved past Blaise and Pansy and led the way up the stairs to the first floor. Still holding their tea, Draco nudged the door of the drawing room open with his hip and shoulder and walked into the middle of the room, where they could clearly see the tapestry hung on the wall.

"What is it?" Pansy asked, frowning and squinting at it while Blaise curiously took a few steps forward to inspect it further.

"Draco, your name is on here," Blaise said finally, after Draco had waited silently on him finding it. Pansy frowned further and stepped up beside Blaise to see if he was telling the truth.

"What is your name doing on an old tapestry in Potter's house?" Pansy asked spinning to look at Draco. Draco took a slow sip of his tea before he decided to answer.

"It's the Black family tapestry. My mother was a Black before she married my father. She was that idiot Sirius Black's cousin before-before he died of course," Draco said. "This is the house of the Black family, or it was before the last immediate descendent died and left it to his Godson rather than a family member,"

"But then, that means that the house technically belongs to your family. It's technically yours," Pansy said, with a slight frown.

"I don't know how strong the legal bindings of Sirius' will are but if they're basic like I think they probably are, then it would be easy to make it so. I'd just need to get a hold of them to see what could be done," Draco said, his face starting to split into a grin as Pansy's eyes seemed to light up.

"I knew there was a sensible reason as to why you were moving in with Potter," Blaise said, suddenly with a wild smile. He laughed, his laugh deep and contagious and shook his head. "I knew it was more than just wanting to get out of your mothers house, I knew you hadn't changed that much,"

"As soon as I saw this I figured something could be done to reclaim it, I had to give it a shot," Draco shrugged, smirking. Blaise was still laughing when he came back over to Draco and clapped him on the back.

"Do you think it could work?" Pansy asked.

"The house already reacts to my touch. Old magic that is able to detect family blood. I just need to find a loophole in that will and I could reclaim ownership of the house. I'd throw Potter out and live in what is rightfully mine, or at the very least make him pay rent or something," Draco shrugged.

At this point Blaise was laughing as uncontrollably and as loudly as ever. All Draco could do was grin and try and get him to calm down a bit. "I knew you still had some Slytherin in you," Blaise kept saying through bouts of laughter while Pansy just watched the pair of them, drinking her tea. Harry Potter wouldn't know what hit him.


	3. Chapter 3

I guess this is my attempt at getting my mojo back. I didn't realise how much I would miss the therapy of writing until I didn't have it to go back to. I tried writing something for myself but that didn't really work either. I am writing this note before I've started the chapter so really it doesn't mean much just now. I'll have to see how it goes. I'm starting from scratch. I've re-read the first chapter and I deleted the little I had of chapter three and starting again. I'm also writing off the top of my head, no plans, it's just all in my head. I think I write better that way as I don't know exactly what is going to happen where as if I have a plan I kind of do. I also recently [a few weeks ago] got a new laptop and I think that will probably help my motivation. So here goes nothing, wish me luck.

Also, you have no idea how much I missed all of you. I made such a bad decision by quitting. Writing is my happy place and without it, I felt like I didn't have a purpose, that I was merely surviving and not living. Cheesy I know but it's the way I felt. Anyway, now I'm just procrastinating. Here goes.

I apologise for any spelling mistakes. I don't have word yet so I'm using textEdit which just isn't the same.

* * *

><p>Part 3<p>

Harry carefully pushed through the front door, his ears pricked for any sign of arguing or disruptive noises. The house, however, was perfectly quiet. He didn't hear anything. At first he thought this was a good thing until the possibility that Hermione and Draco had cursed each other into silence one way or another, crossed his mind and he started to panic a little. It was staring to sound a little too quiet.

"Hermione? 'Mione, are you still here?" he called out, seriously hoping that she would be and that she would be able to answer him in some way. He pulled off his travelling cloak and turned into the Study where Hermione was sitting with her feet curled up on the couch, reading a book. She looked up with a smile when he came in.

"Hey," she said and looked back at her book, quite comfortable and at home, although it was pretty much her second home anyway, her and Ron's.

"Hey. Is Malfoy still getting stuff from his mum's?" Harry asked, frowning as he noticed a new ornament of what looked like a serpent of some kind on the shelf above Hermione's head. He supposed he should have expected something like that but it was still a bit of a shock to see something that wasn't his, that he didn't recognise, in his house.

"No. He's upstairs rearranging furniture and unpacking. His friends only just left. I've offered him some more tea but he's refused after the first three." Hermione said barely looking up from her book.

"Oh. Okay. I should probably offer a hand at least. Get off to some sort of a good start." Harry said draping his cloak over the back of one of the chairs.

"Do you want me to come too? You know just in case?" Hermione asked, marking her place in her book and sitting forward.

"No it's okay. It's not like he's going to attack me or anything," Harry said. Hermione gave him a look like she didn't quite trust that that was really true, Harry shrugged.

"Well in that case then I'll just go, Ron will be home soon," Hermione said. She picked up her own cloak from the arm of the couch and wipped it around her neck. She pecked Harry's cheek and he waited until she was in the fire waving until he left the room and headed to the stairs.

He had been there briefly to greet Malfoy at the door and show him where his room was before he had received a fire call from the Minister of Magic asking for his help with a pretty nasty arrest with a serial killer that had already murdered an auror a few weeks back. He couldn't say no so he had contacted Hermione to come over as soon as possible, just to supervise but to make it seem like she was there to be of help, and he immediately left. They luckily managed to get the guy too, so it was good all round.

Harry made his way up the stairs to Draco's bedroom on the second floor. He had offered the master bedroom to Draco, mainly because it wasn't being used for anything else and he thought that he would probably appreciate it more than any of the other rooms that weren't as big. Harry didn't use it because he preferred to be in Sirius' room and if he ever had anyone stay over they used the spare bedrooms, there were plenty of them too. As for Regulus' room, he'd left that untouched, apart from tidying away the mess that had been left from Snape raiding it. He didn't know why he had left it like that but he'd felt kind of guilty doing anything more to it.

He chapped gently on Malfoy's door, which was slightly ajar and pushed it slowly open almost immediately afterwards. Draco was rooting around a box of his things in the corner of the room. the air was dusty, from where Malfoy had been moving furniture around to the way that he liked it, Harry did't really mind but it was a bit of shock at the difference of the warmth of the room just by the position of the furniture. Malfoy turned to face him with a long woollen scarf in one hand and a sneakoscope in the other.

"Hey, that's me just back. I wondered if you wanted a hand with anything?" Harry asked, staying just in the door way, not wanting to disrupt his privacy. He started to scratch at his fingernails and cuticles again, for some reason a little anxious around Draco. He hoped that would get better with time, the more they got to know each other. He just wasn't able to read him yet.

"Uhm…I don't think I need a hand, I'm just about done. Thanks though," Draco shrugged.

"Okay, well I was going to start dinner, I was thinking shepherds pie, if you want any?" Harry offered. He felt very awkward, and the conversation felt strained but he was still going to be as courteous as ever. Ideally they needed to clear the air and have a conversation about what had happened in the past, but he didn't want to initiate it in case Draco didn't want to. Maybe in a few days.

"Yeah. I shouldn't be long. Thank you," Malfoy said and he looked as if he was a little surprised but genuinely meant his thanks.

"Great. I'll go and get started," Harry smiled and left again, slowly pulling the door too again. He set off back down the stairs just grateful that they had managed to get through a whole conversation without arguing in the slightest.

Harry had just pushed the dish of shepherds pie into the oven when he heard footsteps on the stairs down into the kitchen. He wiped his hands on a dishtowel before turning to face Draco. Draco gave him a slight nod before looking around the room.

"Is there anything I can do?" he offered, which was something that Harry hadn't really expected at all. He had figured Draco had been so used to House Elf's and things being done for him that he wouldn't think to offer to help. He guessed he shouldn't really just be assuming these kind of things anymore.

"No it's okay, we just need to wait on the cheese melting over the top and it'll be ready. Thanks though, for the offer," Harry said, casting his hand to the dishes that were in the sink where they started to wash themselves. He noticed Malfoy's lips twitch slightly as he had watched him do so but he didn't say anything, just sat down at the table, so Harry didn't say anything either.

"Are you finished unpacking then?" Harry asked casually making conversation. He had made the decision to let him live here, he was going to make it as easy as possible or at least try to anyway.

"Yeah. I think so. I've got a few more boxes to go but they're not urgent," Draco shrugged as Harry sat down at the opposite end of the table from him. Harry briefly wondered what was urgent about the hideous snake ornament in the study but decided against mentioning anything about that too. He figured there would be a lot of biting of the tongue in the next few weeks until he got used to things.

"Good," He nodded and looked around him, avoiding looking at Malfoy when he had nothing really to say, desperately trying to find something to talk about. Luckily he had something prepared. "I was thinking we should probably go over our schedules or something just so that we know when we are going to be in the house and such?" Harry suggested

"Sure," Draco shrugged and didn't say anymore so Harry figured he would go first.

"Well, I have weekends off, unless I'm called in like today, but that doesn't happen very often. Umm…I start at nine finish around five but don't normally get home until six, half six depending on how quick I get out of the Ministry," Harry explained. Draco nodded, looking intently as if he really was interested and mentally trying to remember it for later.

"I have Tuesdays and Sundays off, and I'm only a half day on Saturday. I start at nine and finish at seven on weekdays and start at seven and finish at one on Saturday."

"Okay. We're out of the house at the same time a lot but that's okay, at least we know everything now," Harry said. He stood to check on the shepherds pie and to cast the dishes that were now both clean and dry back into place with a flick of his wrist. He saw Draco's eyebrows quirk slightly as he watched this and knew that he was probably wanting to ask where Harry had learnt such skilled wandless magic. He didn't say anything though. That was for Draco to bring up not for him to seem like he was boasting which was probably the way that Malfoy would see it.

Harry took out the dish and served it up on two plates, before taking it over to the table and to Malfoy. They settled down and started eating in silence. Harry didn't want to prompt Draco for a verdict on his cooking so he was left waiting again for Malfoy to make his comments in his own time.

"Where did you learn to cook?" Malfoy asked as he tucked into the food, not seeming to dislike it anyway.

"I had to cook for my Aunt and Uncle a lot and Ron's mum taught me how to cook properly with magic," Harry explained.

"Were your Aunt and Uncle sick or something?" Malfoy asked, his eyes on his plate as he continued to eat, but quite clearly frowning.

"No. They just didn't like me to be doing nothing ," Harry said, putting it rather mildly to say the least. He knew that Malfoy either wouldn't believe him if he told him the truth or would say something that Harry might loose his temper at. He didn't want that, not after only a few hours of living together.

"Oh," Draco said and he was still frowning, like he didn't quite believe that either. He knew he was not getting the full story, mainly because he had already heard what Harry's family was really like to him from the papers and the unauthorised biography that had been published a few days after the war. Draco would never admit to reading it but he had, purely because he was curious.

"It is pretty good though. I've never really learnt to cook," Draco admitted. Harry wasn't surprised by this in the slightest but he still provided a genuine sounding "Really?" Malfoy saw right through it however and looked at him over the table. Harry coughed and looked back down to his own plate, a little embarrassed that he was caught.

"Thanks for the compliment," Harry shrugged and Draco said no more but carried on eating until they were both finished. Harry cast the plates to wash and waited by the sink to then cast them away, feeling Malfoy's eyes on his back the whole time.

Malfoy got up from the table and stretched up high. "Is it okay if I put some of my books in the study?" he asked.

"Yeah, sure. I was about to head there anyway, I've got some paperwork to do," Harry said. He put away the dishes and then followed not too far behind Draco and met him in the entrance hall in front of the portrait of Mrs Black.

"What is under this? Granger wouldn't tell me any more than you would," Malfoy asked.

Harry sighed, figuring he couldn't avoid it forever. "It's a portrait of Mrs Black. She doesn't like that Sirius left the house to me. In fact she didn't even like Sirius being in this house because he ran away from the family when he was a teenager because he didn't agree with…their way of life," Harry explained quietly and as carefully as he could. It was all going so well that he didn't want to ruin it all now by saying the wrong thing.

"And by saying 'she doesn't like…' you mean…?" Malfoy asked, quietly now too, a little concerned that Harry was whispering, wondering what could possibly happen.

Harry sighed again and loudly clapped his hands twice, screwing up his face even before the curtains flung open and Mrs Black started screaming and wailing and shouting about 'blood traitors' and 'filthy half bloods' and 'god damn no good son's' Malfoy cringed but continued to watch her as she shouted her head off, he was kind of intrigued by the whole thing. Harry tapped on his shoulder and got his attention to help with the curtains. Harry took one end and pulled and Malfoy copied. They eventually managed to get it pulled over and closed and the house fell quiet again.

"Wow," Malfoy said now looking at the curtain a bit more disgusted than to begin with.

"Yeah. As long as there are no loud noises around her then you barely know that she is there, thankfully," Harry said. He turned away from it and made his way towards the study, Malfoy following closely behind.

"How long have you lived here?" Malfoy asked as he peered up at the high shelves of books spread across the two side walls. Harry's desk sat in front of the window, facing out onto what would normally be a bright street around the back of the house but was currently dark with night. Harry flicked the lights on conjured up a new desk, squeezing it into the space beside his at the window. There was only a small space in-between the desks but Harry figured it would be unlikely that they were working in there together so it would be okay.

"Since the end of our extra year at Hogwarts. The house was mine at the beginning of sixth year but I didn't want it at the time. I let the order use it and was all for letting Remus and Tonks have it. That didn't really work out though and I didn't want to sell it so I figured someone should live in it. I didn't realise how big and lonely it was on my own though," Harry shrugged. "Is that desk okay for you there?"

"Yeah, thanks. You didn't need to give me a desk," Draco said.

Harry shrugged again. "This should be your study as much as it is mine,"

"Thanks. I'll go and get the books I need," Draco said, and was gone before Harry could say much more.

Harry sat down at his desk and frowned slightly at the new outlook from the window. Before he could see straight out of the window and into the house across the street, into the bedroom window of a middle aged muggle man that collected train sets. Now he could only see half of that house and won't be able to watch the guy take such care in painting his little trains. It was quite a distraction, watching him sometimes.

Malfoy came back with a box of books and propped it up on his desk. Harry swung in his chair to watch and to offer help. Malfoy politely declined and then turned to the book shelf to see how his books would fit in between Harry's. Harry turned back to his desk and attempted to pick up his paper work where he left off on Friday. He had just picked up a quill and dipped it into some ink to carry on when Malfoy made a loud tut from behind him.

"These aren't in alphabetical order," Malfoy said running his finger over the spines of the books and tutting a little more.

"No…" Harry said slowly, "Do you arrange things in alphabetical order?"

"How are you ever supposed to find anything if you don't?" Malfoy asked looking at Harry as if he was the crazy one.

"Are you a wizard or not? I use a summoning charm," Harry said.

"With books? You can't use such harsh magic on items like books," Malfoy said. Harry couldn't help but smile at how much Malfoy sounded like Hermione just then, even though he would never tell him that. Malfoy meanwhile looked around at the shelves trying to figure out some kind of order. "Can I-?" he started but then stopped with a sigh.

"It's okay to ask, you can order them if that makes things easier for you," Harry said. Malfoy looked across at him, judging whether this was really okay with Harry. He felt as if he was over stepping slightly. He had barely been living in the same house as him for two minutes and he already wanted to start changing things and rearranging things that were in Harry's personal space. He couldn't judge properly whether it was bothering him so he could only go by what Harry was telling him.

"Thank you," Malfoy said for what felt like the hundredth time since he had got there. Why was Harry being so kind and welcoming towards him anyway? He had really not expected their first night living together, or in fact any night, being like this. He'd imagined at least a little bit of arguing.

Harry turned back to his work and let Malfoy get on with his alphabetising system. It would take him a while because he was refusing to use any magic on any of the books and was taking them down and sorting them by hand, weaving his own books in with Harry's. Normally Harry was able to block out background noises and carry on with what he was doing but tonight he was finding it increasingly difficult. He wasn't sure why but the thought of Malfoy being somewhere behind him, handling his own personal items unsettled him a little bit. He wasn't particularly concerned that Malfoy would do anything to them or steal anything but he guessed that deep down somewhere that was what was bothering him.

He turned in his seat and watched in the dim light as Malfoy continued to pull four or five books down at a time, setting them out on the floor alphabetically so that there was a pile of books in order across the room. He took such care and attention in handling the books and reading the titles that Harry realised that some things certainly meant a lot to him, even if they weren't particularly his, books being one of them. Either that or he was just being respectful towards things that weren't his, something Harry certainly didn't expect either.

"Do you want a hand? You'll be here all night if you do it alone," Harry finally asked and before Malfoy could respond he was up on his feet pulling books down from the opposite bookcase and sorting them into the piles Malfoy had already created. Malfoy just smiled and they carried on in silence.

"Good night Malfoy," Harry said as he turned up into the next staircase leaving Malfoy on the third floor in front of the door to the master bedroom.

"Night Potter," Malfoy said turning into the room and closing the door gently behind him.

The evening really hadn't gone that bad for either of them. They hadn't talked a whole lot once they got started on sorting out the books and the little they did talk was only to comment on each others taste in literature, when they came across a particularly good or embarrassing book. It still didn't feel like they were going to be sharing a home for a very long time however, it felt as if Malfoy would be leaving again in a couple of days or weeks and that it was only temporary. Harry supposed it would feel different with time.

All Harry could do was hope that it stayed as good as it was that night.

* * *

><p>Harry yawned as he scratched his chest as he made his way down the steps into the basement. He'd slept late because it was sunday but so far he hadn't heard Malfoy moving around at all, not until he was on the staircase. He now heard the rustle of a news paper and the soft thud of a mug on his kitchen table. He entered the kitchen and saw Malfoy sat at the top of the table, just as Harry expected, newspaper in hand and coffee mug on the table beside him. There was also a few packs of cereal, a jug of milk and a bowl set out also.<p>

"Morning," Malfoy said with a nod at Harry without looking at him over his newspaper.

"Morning. What's all this?" Harry asked, sitting down next to Malfoy, where the bowl was placed.

"Well, I can't cook. I can't even really do toast without burning it, but I wanted to do something, especially since you cooked last night," Malfoy shrugged and set down his paper. He was already dressed in a fitted baby blue jumper and grey trousers unlike Harry who was still in what he had slept in, a pair of pyjama bottoms and a white t-shirt.

"Thanks. You didn't have to you know," Harry said but he emptied some cornflakes and milk into his bowl anyway.

"I thought maybe, since breakfast is a bit easier than anything else, I could make breakfast and you make dinner? I want to pull my weight too," Malfoy said.

"That's very…considerate of you, Thanks Malfoy," Harry said. Malfoy shrugged and pushed the paper towards Harry and offered him a cup of coffee.

For the remainder of the day Harry stayed in the study catching up on the workload that he had avoided the day before while he had alphabetised his books with Malfoy. There was more of it than he had expected and he had only stopped when he realised it was two o'clock in the afternoon and he was starting to get hungry. They had decided at breakfast that they would have a Sunday roast for dinner since this was normally what they both had, Malfoy at home and Harry at the Weasley's, which he was skipping out on tonight because he had decided he would wait until they were both settled a bit more considering it was only the second night of Malfoy being there.

Malfoy had kept to his own room, unpacking the last little bits and pieces and setting up an area at the back of the room for his own work. He could do paperwork in the study, but this was more practical work, mixing potions. Of course the conditions weren't ideal, mixing potions next to where he slept and such, but he felt a little awkward asking for more space just yet. He wanted to have lived there for at least a week before he suggested anything like that. Of course ideal conditions would really be in his shop but he would practically be living there if he did all of his work there, he had to take some of it home.

It took Harry the rest of the afternoon to make dinner and it was just about ready when Malfoy made his way down the stairs into the kitchen. Harry had just sent two plates across the room to land on the table when Malfoy entered and he had to quickly duck to miss being hit with them, Harry hadn't even noticed Malfoy come in, his back to the door as he sliced the shoulder of lamb that he had cooked.

"Do you need any help?" Malfoy asked helpfully again and Harry turned to look at him.

"No, it's okay, it's almost finished," Harry said, peering into the pot of gravy that was stirring itself.

Malfoy sat down at the head of the table again and watched as Harry next sent cutlery flying his way, that thankfully settled around the plates already on the table. Malfoy felt a little uneasy at the amount of wandless magic Harry was using with things like plates and cutlery, that could potentially kill someone if he wasn't careful. He could see that Harry had gotten better at the type of magic since he was at school but it still unsettled him a little.

Within a few minutes Harry was serving up the meal, putting each part on the table between them and letting Malfoy help himself. There were mashed potatoes, carrots, lamb, sweetcorn, gravy, and roast potatoes. He had possibly made a little too much but at least that was better than not making enough. They settled down and mostly ate in silence once again. Conversation didn't really come easily to them but Harry guessed it was better than arguing.

"How did you learn such precise wandless magic? You were shit at it at school," Malfoy finally asked the question he had been wanting to ask for the past two days half way through the meal.

"I wouldn't say I was shit," Harry said, and carried on before Malfoy could argue, "I needed it for Auror training. I failed that part of the test the first time so I worked twice as hard to pass it the next time, getting Hermione to teach me relentlessly. We were just about ready to curse each other by the end of it but at least I was able to do it wandlessly,"

"Really? You were bad at something? Who knew?" Malfoy said, his tone changing slightly.

"I'm bad at lots of things," Harry said, frowning slightly at the tone Malfoy was suddenly using.

"Sure you are. I always knew that I just didn't think that anyone else did," Malfoy said. Harry narrowed his eyes and dug into a piece of lamb a little harder than was necessary.

"I don't know why you are under the impression that everyone thinks I'm so great. It's never been that way and I have never claimed it to be either," Harry said.

"Oh come on. You've got to admit that in school you got away with murder and you knew people worshipped you," Malfoy said, calmly picking at his meal and not particularly meeting Harry's eyes.

"It was never like that. If you think that then you are sorely mistaken," Harry said. He pushed his plate away, only half finished, anger starting to bubble up within him, the way it always used to when he was around Malfoy. Some things certainly didn't change then.

"Potter, there was favouritism going on at that school towards you and you know it," Malfoy said determinedly, pushing his plate away also, clearly more interested in getting in an argument than eating.

"If anything they treated me with less favouritism than anyone, and even if there was, I never asked for it. I never asked for anything that happened to me in those seven years. I just wanted to be a normal wizard not some pint sized hero,"

Malfoy scoffed and that was the last straw for Harry. He pushed away from the table, sent his own plate into the sink and turned for the stairs. "I thought maybe you had changed from being the spiteful, hateful git you once were but obviously I was wrong. It just took twenty four hours for you to show me that," Harry said as he left, thumping loudly up the stairs. Malfoy said nothing more and Harry was left to sulk and vent off some of his anger in his study.

He went beck to working on his paper work so that it would be finished for the next day. Before he really knew it, it was the back of ten when he was finally finished and ready for bed. He left the study and heard no movement around the house so guessed that Malfoy had probably gone to bed also. When he past his room, he saw that there was a light on, showing under the door. He didn't bother going in. Instead he carried on to bed and hoped that maybe things would be better in the morning. It was interesting to think that he had a completely different opinion the night before.

* * *

><p>"Morning Natasha," Harry said as he passed through her office into his. Natasha looked up from her desk and smiled at him. He had barely hung up his cloak when she was following in behind him, with an armful of files.<p>

"How are you?" Natasha asked, clearly with another motive in mind than just finding out how he was.

"Fine thank you Natasha, how are you?" he asked.

"I'm fine. How are things at home?" Natasha asked as Harry sat down behind his desk and held a hand out for the files in Natasha's arms. She handed them over and then took a seat at the other side of Harry's desk. Harry sighed and leant forward on his folded arms.

"It was fine on the first night. We got on fine, alphabetised books and I even gave him a desk in my study," Harry said.

"Alphabetised books?" Natasha asked, making a face. Harry rolled his eyes and nodded.

"Some sort of OCD thing, I don't know. Anyway that was all fine and everything continued to be fine yesterday, we kept out of each others way mostly, until dinner. I made a roast dinner and all of a sudden he was asking about my wandless magic and insulting my skills in school and pretty much said that people worshiped me back then and that's why I am where I am today," Harry explained.

"So you stormed off and sulked for the rest of the evening," Natasha stated, her tone suggesting that she knew this before Harry had to tell her.

"I wouldn't say sulked…" Harry said quietly his fingers twirling and fiddling with his quill.

"Did you speak this morning?" Natasha asked.

"No. He had his own breakfast and was reading the newspaper. Yesterday he had set out a bowl and cereal for me but nothing today," Harry said.

"Maybe you should apologise?" Natasha suggested.

"Me apologise?" Harry exclaimed, dropping his quill back into the inkwell.

"Yes! Look, what happened years ago doesn't matter, I think it's time to let that go don't you? This whole experience can't be easy for Draco you know, he's living in someone else's territory and living away from his mother for the first time in many years, it can't be easy," Natasha said, sitting back in her seat and acting almost as if it was Harry's fault that they'd even stopped talking to one another in the first place.

"That's not an excuse to start insulting me," Harry said, sticking by his point. Why should he apologise for something that Malfoy started? "No. I'm not apologising until he does. He started it. He's the one living in my house, I deserve a bit of respect. I'll just keep to myself. I'm sure he will apologise soon enough when he realises I'm not going to cook for him,"

"I think you're being selfish Harry. Not to mention really immature." Natasha pointed out and folded her arms next. They sat across from each other in silence staring each other out. Harry was stubborn and unmoving but Natasha was just about as bad. They would have sat there giving each other looks for much longer, but they were interrupted by Ron walking in.

"Harry, you'll never believe-" Ron started and stopped again abruptly upon finding Natasha and Harry staring at each other. "Have I interrupted something here?" he asked, frowning.

"Not at all," Natasha said, standing, glowering once more at Harry and then turning to Ron with her serious look. "Talk to your best friend he's being a prick," she said before leaving and slamming the door after her. Ron looked at Harry in surprise eyebrows raised.

"Prick is a bit harsh," Harry justified.

"No it's not!" Natasha shouted through the door. Harry's pot of ink on his desk quivered as his anger started to grow. Ron noticed this and the tensing muscle in Harry's jaw and crossed the room to sit in Natasha's recently vacated seat.

"Come on, spill," Ron said, putting his feet up on Harry's desk as Harry ran a hand through his hair to calm himself and leant back in his seat, swinging gently from side to side.

He told Ron everything about what had happened with Malfoy and then the discussion that had just taken place with Natasha about whether he should apologise. Ron listened and scoffed in all the right places and then took a few minutes to ponder over whether or not to apologise.

"I think you should apologise," Ron said with a short shrug, knowing that Harry wasn't going to like it. The look he was getting from hims proved that.

"Why? It's my house, he should be apologising to me for being disrespectful," Harry said.

"But don't you remember what we said when we were deciding who you wanted to move in? You want to keep Malfoy on your good side, or at least be amicable. We knew he was going to be at least a little bit like a git, you can't be that surprised Harry," Ron said.

Harry stared at him for a second and then looked away towards his window. "Why should I be first to apologise though?"

"Because you are the bigger person that way. The better person," Ron shrugged.

"Why have you got to be right?" Harry said, finally admitting defeat, but still feeling the need to push a paperweight off of his desk rather violently just to show he wasn't happy about it.

"Natasha was right too remember," Ron said putting the paperweight back together with a flick of his wand and levitating it back onto the table. Harry sighed in defeat and continued to gaze out of the window for a while. He didn't want to admit anything of the sort, certainly not to Natasha whom he knew would take it in her stride.

"Yes well, one step at a time," Harry said, swinging his chair back around to face Ron, whom was lounging in the chair opposite him, feet up on Harry's desk. "What did you come here for anyway?"

"Oh, Hermione has signed me up for that muggle dancing class, sakla or-"

"Salsa."

"Yeah that. Starts next tuesday or something," Ron said with a casual wave of his hand. Harry started sniggering and the more annoyed that Ron got by it the more his sniggers turned into laughter.

"Do you even know what salsa dancing is like?" Harry said in-between giggles.

"Not really. I have seen the outfit that Hermione's got me and I don't really like the look of it," Ron said, with his nose scrunched up a little.

"No, I bet. You'll like Hermione's though," Harry said with a wink when Ron's eyebrows arched.

"Hmm, well maybe I'll get Hermione to sign you up too," Ron said, Harry's smile fell while Ron's blossomed on his face.

"You wouldn't dare,"

"You'll just have to wait and find out. Want to go out for lunch?" Ron asked. "I've got a spare hour,"

"It's not even ten o'clock yet!" Harry said, gesturing to the clock behind him. "I haven't even done anything since I came in apart from getting lectures," he said scowling slightly at Ron.

Ron shrugged. "Brunch then?" Harry just laughed and pushed away from his desk.

"Why not?" Harry said, standing and swinging his cloak around his shoulders. "Lets just floo out from her though huh? I don't really want the third degree," Harry said nodding his head at the door which led to Natasha.

Ron smiled and hopped up to his feet and walked over to the fireplace, grabbing a pinch of floo powder as he did so. "Coward," he muttered under his breath. Harry punched him in the arm and pushed him towards the fire.

* * *

><p>"…And now we haven't talked since," Draco said, attempting an air of casualness to his tone but knowing that if anyone were to see through it it would be the person sitting across from him.<p>

"Prick," Blaise said rather loudly causing a few people to turn around in their seats and stare at him. Blaise went on oblivious, tearing off a piece of his roll to dip into his soup.

"I wouldn't go that far. I did start it after all," Draco said, feeling the need to defend Potter for some unknown reason. It was okay for him to bring him down or call him names but not for anyone else to do so.

"You were the one I was calling a prick Draco," Blaise scoffed, shaking his head.

"Oh," Draco said and fought with the urge to blush. Was there not a spell to cure that yet? Someone had to get onto that.

"You need to become closer to him if you are ever to find out the ins and outs of the ownership of that house. I know that's not really desirable, Who wants to get close to Potter? But we all have to make sacrifices to get what we want," Blaise said matter of factly, waggling his spoon at Draco as he talked.

Draco frowned into his coffee cup as his mind raced with possibilities, plots and plans. "I'll have to apologise, and I'll have to do so before he thinks of doing it," he said after a few minutes thinking.

"I thought you said that you started it? Why would he think he needs to apologise?" Blaise asked.

"He said a few things I suspect he regrets, he is a Gryffindor after all. Once he starts feeling guilty there's no stopping him from apologising," Draco said, staring off out the restaurant window as he thought about how he was going to word his apology.

"Fair point. Make sure you make it convincing though, otherwise he'll see right through it," Blaise said. Draco nodded absently as he frowned again at the thought that maybe he really was sorry about what he had said. Surely not.

* * *

><p>Harry dumped his bag and folders at the fireplace as he stepped out of it, just like he always did, so they were ready to just be scooped up again on the way out in the morning, and crossed the kitchen to the cooker. He listened for any other sounds around the house but just as he suspected heard nothing, knowing Draco wasn't due home for another hour at least. That gave him plenty of time to prepare his apology in his head ready to fire at Malfoy almost immediately after he came in. He just hoped that it would work. The more he thought about it the more guilty he felt.<p>

He took out the steak he had bought the day before for their dinner and decided to make it for them both tonight. It wasn't until he went into the cupboard to get the frying pan out that he realised that a lot of the pots and pans were missing. He frowned and went into all the other cupboards, finding them crammed in with the plates. He was lucky that none of them fell out at him. It was then that he realised he hadn't been around to tidy up the meal the night before, he'd been sulking. Someone had to have tidied it all away, wrongly but still. And since he knew it wasn't him it must have been Malfoy. This only made him feel even worse.

Through his guilt Harry attempted to burry most of it by occupying himself with preparing dinner. It wasn't a task that usual took too long but Harry seemed to be going at a slower pace than usual as before he knew it, it was the back of seven and the fire flared behind him. Harry turned to watch Draco stumble from the fire, over the bags and folders he had left there.

"What the-" Draco muttered as he straightened himself and turned back to see what he had tripped over. His head shot up across to Harry, scowling as Harry's hands hovered over the frying pan, holding onions, ready to drop them in.

"Why did you think that it would be a good idea to leave them there?" Malfoy asked, his eyes blazing with annoyance, which was heightened by the reflection of the fire.

"Sorry, habit," Harry said quickly dropping the onions in and waving his hand to get rid of the bag and folders. The last thing he wanted was to annoy Malfoy further.

Malfoy straightened up and raised his chin too, his eyes softening again. "It's okay, just a bit of a shock to come back to,"

Harry raised his eyebrows and sensed that there was possibly a chance that he was about to apologise for the night before too. He already had apologised once, he was possibly on a roll.

"I also wanted to apologise for last night. I was out of order," Malfoy said before Harry could even open his mouth to start apologising.

"I think we were both a little to blame at least. I guess I'm a little uptight about that kind of thing, I'm sorry," Harry said. He didn't get in there first but at least he could make it sound sincere.

"I should never have said anything in the first place. It was more my fault than yours." Malfoy said. Harry opened his mouth to apologise again, to shift the blame back to him but Malfoy continued before he could. "Should we move past it and just carry on?"

Harry sighed and nodded, sharing a small smile. He turned back to the cooker and continued with dinner, wary about it getting burnt. "It shouldn't be long, a few more minutes I think,"

"Okay. I'll go and drop off my stuff and freshen up a bit," Malfoy said and was gone again before Harry even looked at him.

Harry plated up the food and set it on the table to wait for Draco. He busied himself with sorting out drinks of either pumpkin juice or water before Draco finally joined him and they sat down to eat in a slightly tense silence. Harry didn't like uncomfortable silences, for the obvious reason that it made him uncomfortable and also because it reminded him of his very quiet, lonely childhood. He attempted to get Malfoy to talk to him by glancing at him every now and then but Malfoy wasn't biting. He was focused on his food.

"How was your day?" Harry asked finally, not quite able to handle much more.

"Alright. Same as always I suppose," Malfoy said with a shrug and Harry sensed that was the most that he was going to get from him for now.

Harry awkwardly made it through dinner not speaking to one another but uncomfortable the whole time. Once they were both finished Harry rose from the table and reached for Malfoy's plate to get it ready to wash. Before he could Malfoy pulled the pate out of his reach, on his feet and tugged Harry's plate out of his slightly shocked hands. Harry frowned and watched as Malfoy walked around the table towards the sink.

"What are you doing?" Harry asked.

"Cleaning up, Potter, what does it look like?" Malfoy bit back in good old Malfoy fashion.

"But why?" Harry asked frowning as Draco withdrew his wand and set a standard cleaning charm on all the dishes in the sink. They shuddered a little, clattering a bit and then slowly started to clean themselves.

"You made the meal, the least I can do, without knowing how to cook, is do the dishes," Malfoy said.

"Did you-? Did you clean everything up last night too?" Harry asked, even though he already knew that he had, whom else would it have been?

"Yes, Just because we had argued didn't mean that I wouldn't pull my weight," Malfoy said.

"Thank you. You really don't have to. I mean, I didn't think you even knew any cleaning spells,"

"I didn't until I looked them up in one of your books in the sitting room," Malfoy explained, frowning at the plates clattered a little upon the side once they were finished washing, still a little wet.

"And you learned it in one night?" Harry asked, surprised.

"I would say yes but I think that I might need a bit of practice and to re-read it," Malfoy said.

"It took me weeks to get to the stage that you are at. I…- Thank you Malfoy," Harry said, blinking at Malfoy's back, trying to figure out why he would do so, especially after what happened the night before hand.

"What are you thanking me for Potter?"

"I-I don't really…know," Harry said after a brief pause. Malfoy finished with the washing, saying nothing more. Harry guided him in putting them away in the right cupboards this time and Malfoy attempted to familiarise himself with them.

Harry went upstairs, Malfoy not too far behind and did some paperwork in the study, feeling as if that was all he ever did. Malfoy went into the living room, with a book and settled himself in froth of the fire with it. Harry only did a little paperwork before deciding to give up for now and joined Malfoy in the living room. He took up his seat at the other side of the fire, curled up in the chair and stared into it mainly.

"Is that what you do? Sit and stare at the fire?" Malfoy asked, peering over his book.

"Not all the time, no. It is fascinating though, fire, isn't it? Hypnotising almost," Harry said. Malfoy rolled his eyes and settled back down to his book, Harry smirked and looked back into the fire.

When Harry tore his eyes away blinking, and looked at Malfoy, he too was staring into the fire. Harry smiled again and looked at the time. He supposed it was quite early to be going to bed but he had nothing else to do and was rather tired. He knew he was in the field tomorrow and wanted as much energy as possible.

"I think I'm going to go to bed. I'll see you in the morning, Malfoy," Harry said, pushing himself out of his chair and snapping Malfoy out of his gaze into the fire.

"Okay. Good night," he said, watching Harry as he left the room before, Harry noticed as he closed the door, turning back to the fire rather than his book.


	4. Chapter 4

I know this has taken far longer than I said it might and longer than any of you probably wanted but I promise I'm not giving up on this, at all. It's taking a while because I've been sorting my life out at the same time, getting healthier and such and that's eating into my writing time a lot. I have a solution however, I am taking a walk down to my town library every Wednesday from now on and spending two hours there before I go to work, working on this. This way, I'm getting a little exercise by walking and working on this at the same time, away from any distractions [apart from the books by our town library is shit and doesn't have many books in it anyway] The only problem is it's always so cold. apart from that so far so good.

This is also partly delayed because i spent a large amount of time on a certain bit in this chapter that I then cut out. I've kept it so that if there is anything else I need to cut out it can be the outtakes chapter I suppose. I must say though this chapter is pretty long so it should make up for the lack of them.

Another reason for the delay on this was the fact that I spent about a week getting through the Hunger Games books. I'm hooked, and seriously can't wait for the first movie to come out. Anyway, enough of excuses. Hopefully the next update will come quicker than this one did.

Enjoy.

* * *

><p>Part 4<p>

The next week carried on much like the first few days. They carried on with their lives like they would if the other wasn't there. The only difference was that they had someone to talk to about it. They bickered a little over the little things, like how much milk the other was using and leaving wet towels lying around, but neither of them went near any of the slightly more sensitive subjects, now knowing better. They had well and truly found themselves in a routine. Malfoy made breakfast, which of course was always cereal because he didn't know anything else yet, and Harry made dinner, usually refusing Malfoy's help, mainly because he preferred to work on his own and because he was used to it.

Before they really knew it, it had been a week since Malfoy had moved in. It still felt only like days and nothing was very settled, he still felt like a bit of a guest. Nothing would really fix that apart from time, because Harry was being more than welcoming in that sense.

Harry woke up late on the saturday and slowly worked on some more paperwork. Malfoy was at work until the afternoon and Harry was a little surprised at how lonely he felt without him around the house, even if they weren't always together, he could still feel his presence around the house. It was surprising how much difference just a week made.

He had just finished in his study and went down into the kitchen, still in just his pyjama bottoms, to make himself some lunch when the fire blazed and Malfoy stepped through just as Harry had reached the bottom of the stairs. Harry smiled as he went over to the cupboards and Malfoy shook his cloak from his shoulders.

"Afternoon. How was work?" Harry asked.

"Nothing that exciting, pretty quiet actually. What have you been doing?" Malfoy asked, draping his cloak over the chair and moving up beside him watching as he pulled things out of the fridge.

"Paper work. I'm going to make sandwiches for lunch, you want one?" Harry said.

"Can I help? I mean can you teach me how, with magic," Malfoy said.

"Uhm…I suppose so,"

"I want to learn how to cook with magic. I'm getting a little sick of cereal for breakfast," Malfoy said.

"Sure. If you want. I can run through the basics, like cutting and things just now and move on to more complicated things at dinner," Harry said.

"Yes please. Thank you," Malfoy said. Harry nodded and withdrew his wand, knowing that it would be easier to show him what to do with his wand rather than doing it wandlessly and silently, he had taught people things before and even though it was second nature to do almost everything without a wand these days, it was a much easier way of teaching. Malfoy withdrew his also, ready and prepared.

"It's mainly in the wrist," Harry said. To which Malfoy smirked.

"I should be alright there then," he muttered and Harry smirked back at him.

"Once you're used to it you'll just be able to say what you want it to do and it'll do it, rather than saying the spell. You need to know it inside out though," Harry said.

Harry taught him the spells to spreading butter, cutting lettuce and slicing chicken. They did their own sandwiches and obviously Harry's was much neater but they tasted the same. Malfoy was rather proud of himself and Harry was just happy to have helped.

They moved on to their own rooms after lunch, Harry putting some clothes on at last, and Malfoy working, before they met up again in the kitchen at around three and Harry helped Malfoy learn how to bake breakfast muffins.

"And now empty the flour into the bowl like I showed you with the sugar," Harry said, standing a step or two to the side of Malfoy and guiding him through it because Malfoy insisted on it being that way. They were both enjoying each others company more than either of them really expected or were willing to admit.

Malfoy thought for a moment and then pointed his wand at the scales that held the right amount of flour and muttered the spell with a flick of his wand. His flick was a little too enthusiastic and it ended up that the flour flew up into the air, above both of them and rained down on them much like snow. Harry couldn't help but start laughing, which wasn't really his best idea, if the look Malfoy gave him was anything to go by.

"That's not funny Potter. Now I've got to start all over again and I have flour in my hair," Malfoy said, spraying flour everywhere as he talked.

"Oh come on Malfoy. Lighten up. You'll never enjoy cooking if you take it this seriously. It's supposed to be fun. Do you seriously think that I didn't make mistakes like that when I was learning? We all do, and I managed to laugh at myself for it," Harry explained, flicking his wrist vanishing the flour that had coated them. Malfoy muttered under his breath, something that sounded a lot like "show off" as he started to measure out more flour.

Eventually they managed to measure out all the ingredients and mix them all together and finally get the muffins in the oven. While they waited on them cooking they made scrambled eggs on toast, something else that Malfoy could make for breakfast, and served it for dinner as neither of them were that hungry after their late-ish lunch. Malfoy was rather proud of himself by how good everything tasted and felt even more accomplished when his muffins also turned out perfect and delicious, or at least perfect enough. He really didn't mind this cooking thing and didn't understand why he hadn't tried it earlier.

They had just finished eating their chocolate and strawberry muffins, which Harry had served with ice cream to make it more like a dessert than a breakfast, and were just washing up, when the fire glowed green behind them and Ron and Hermione stepped through.

"Yeah, more of a poke like that than a flick, gets the crusty bits off of the pan," Harry was saying, oblivious to his two best friends standing behind them. Ron scuffed his feet to make their presence known to which Harry and Malfoy both spun, pots clattering to a hault in the bottom of the sink as they drew their wands away from cleaning and to the "intruder"

Harry lowered his wand again immediately once he saw whom it was but it took a moment longer for Malfoy to register to do the same. Harry grinned at the familiar faces of his friends and waved his hand for two chairs to pull out from the table to offer them a seat. Malfoy was not quite as pleased, but he found it difficult to figure out why he was annoyed at their appearance other than the obvious.

"Have we interrupted something?" Hermione asked innocently as she took her offered seat, glancing between the two of them, noticing Malfoy's stony expression.

"Not really. I was just teaching Malfoy some basic cooking and cleaning spells. I forgot you guys were coming over," Harry said, moving away from the sink to sit across from his friends. Hermione cast a wary smile in Malfoy's direction while Ron and Harry launched into a discussion about work. Malfoy didn't return it, feeling some resentment towards the girl for, dare he say it, taking away his time with Potter. He wanted to say that he was just enjoying the company but really he was sure there was more to it than that, for one thing, since when had he ever enjoyed Potter's company.

Malfoy turned back to the dishes, carrying on with them by hand, his wand arm shaky with anger, plus the fact that he didn't know the spells properly. Once he was finished he turned to the door, prepared to retreat to his room for the rest of the night, mainly to sulk.

"Malfoy, where are you going?" Harry asked, his head snapping in his direction, like he could detect that Malfoy wasn't planning on sticking around much longer, without even looking at him.

"I thought that it would be a good idea to let you and your friends catch up," Malfoy said politely, because even though he was annoyed beyond believe that was how he was brought up.

"You can join us if you want. We don't want to put you out just because we're here. You live here now," Ron said. Harry was a little taken aback, expecting something like that to come from Hermione of all people, and she seemed to be too. Ron just shrugged when they all looked at him, as if it was obvious he felt that way.

"Thanks but it's fine. I have work to do anyway," Malfoy said, his expression blank, the way it was whenever he lied to anyone, none of them knew that yet though.

"You sure?" Harry asked, frowning slightly, rightly assuming that there was something not right with him, but unable to place what. He may have only been in the same living space for only a week but there were still things he caught on to rather quickly, and one of those was knowing when Malfoy was annoyed.

"Absolutely," Malfoy said with a nod and left the kitchen. Harry, Ron and Hermione all looked at each other. Harry bit his lip and contemplated following Malfoy to see if he could convince him to join them but then wondered if he really wanted him to join them if he was going to be so cold and miserable about it.

"Should we leave? Move on somewhere else, make him feel a little more comfortable?" Hermione asked.

"No, he said he was fine, there's nothing more that we can assume," Harry said, "Do you want a drink and we'll go into the drawing room?"

"If you're sure," Hermione said, glancing at Ron, who shrugged.

"Of course I am. I'll get the drinks you guys go on up," Harry said. Ron and Hermione agreed and carried on up. Harry plucked two bottles of red wine out of the pantry where it was kept nice and cool. And then he took four wine glasses out of the cupboard.

He climbed the stairs and kept on going until he reached the Master bedroom, Malfoy's room. He knocked on the door and waited for him to answer. Malfoy came to the door and frowned at Harry. Harry noticed his room looked a lot neater than when he had last seen it, which was understandable considering that was a week ago when Malfoy first moved in. Malfoy liked to keep his room very private, wouldn't even let Harry in there to collect laundry, which to be honest Harry could understand. He didn't particularly like people going into his room either.

"What do you want Potter?" Malfoy asked, shielding the view of his room by pulling the door closer to him and standing tall in the small gap that was left between it and the door frame.

"We are going to have some wine down in the drawing room, are you sure you don't want to join us?" Harry asked. He took half a step back when Malfoy's eyes narrowed.

"You don't get it do you Potter?" Malfoy said, crossing his arms now. Before Harry could answer, what he was sure was probably a hypothetical question anyway, Malfoy continued. "I don't have a problem with you or your friends. I have a problem with the fact that you didn't tell me that they were coming over tonight. I live here now too and I have the right to know when you are going to have guests or not,"

Harry chewed on his bottom lip as he finally figured out what was wrong with Malfoy and why he had changed so suddenly. He really felt awful about it too, he hadn't even taken how Malfoy would feel into consideration, and even though he had forgotten himself, he should have passed it by Malfoy when he made the plans on the previous Wednesday.

"I'm sorry Malfoy. I didn't think. You're absolutely right, I should have passed it by you first." Harry said calmly.

"Yes, well…" Malfoy said, looking down at his feet. He had been half expecting a fight, or at least a little bit of an argument from Harry.

"That doesn't mean that you can't come and join us though, You're still more than welcome. Ron and Hermione are probably going to be around the house a lot, so wouldn't it be best for everyone if you could at least get to the stage that we're at? That we tolerate one another," Harry explained.

"I think we're a little beyond just tolerating each other," Malfoy said quietly but Harry pretended he didn't hear.

"So? Do you want to join us?" Harry said holding up the wine and the glasses in his hands.

"Have you got white wine?" Malfoy asked after a pause and cautious glance at the rose wine, and Harry smirked, stepping away, towards the stairs.

"Come join us and find out," he said and skipped down the stairs again, even from the bottom he could hear Malfoy sigh and close the door of his room. Harry went back to the pantry and gabbed a bottle of white wine and then went back up to the drawing room.

Malfoy was standing awkwardly beside the couch, looking around the room as if he had never seen it before, even though he obviously had. Ron and Hermione sat in opposite chairs by the fire, deep in conversation, backs to the door and to Malfoy. Harry pushed the door shut and startled everyone in the room, causing them all to look to him. Hermione, frowning at Malfoy, as if she hadn't known he was there. Ron was however reaching over the back of his chair to get his glass from Harry.

"Here," Harry gave Ron the glasses and the wine, "White for Malfoy," he added and Ron nodded. Harry turned to Malfoy with a small encouraging smile, and cast a hand in the direction behind him, pushing two more chairs, like those Ron and Hermione sat in, around the fire, where they slotted in perfectly, not too close to each other but close enough to the fire to be warm enough. Harry took his beside Ron and gestured for Malfoy to sit in the one the other side of him. He looked uncomfortable and nervous.

Ron passed around the glasses and put the bottles of wine on the table in front of them, settling back against the cushions. Harry leant back sipping his wine too and wondered what they could all possibly talk about. He found it easy speaking to Malfoy when it was just the two of them but it wasn't so easy when he had Ron and Hermione there too, he didn't even know why it was just awkward.

Hermione was first to break the ice. She cleared her throat politely drawing attention to herself and held her glass of wine in two hands. "What is it that you do nowadays Malfoy?" She asked softly, even though she already knew the answer. Harry and Ron glanced at each other, Ron quirking an eyebrow at Harry and Harry shrugging only slightly.

"I run an apothecary down Diagon Alley," Malfoy said. Hermione nodded and sipped her wine.

"I always expected you to work at the Ministry," she observed.

"So did I," Malfoy said, relaxing a little, his shoulders becoming noticeably less tense. "Things change though, so do people. I'm glad they refused me, I'm much happier than I would have been in the Ministry,"

"I was going to ask if you enjoy it. I considered a career that involved potion making, I've always been curious about how that would have worked out for me," Hermione said.

Harry and Ron looked at one another again and grinned. Harry knew that if Malfoy gave it a chance, he and Hermione would get on brilliantly and they both seemed to be able to give it a go, which was nice.

"What did you think of Jenkins' playing last night?" Ron asked Harry, starting their own conversation about Quidditch, something they rarely got to do when Hermione was around, considering she would puff out her cheeks and roll her eyes until they stopped. She looked ridiculous when she did this but it made them get the picture and stop, keeping their conversations to lunch breaks, now she had a distraction though.

"Oh, bloody awful, they should have subbed in Leith in the first five minutes when Jenkins dropped the quaffle for no reason whatsoever, right before the goals," Harry said animatedly, making gestures to go with what he was saying, like most men did when they were talking about football..

"Don't be ridiculous Harry, Leith has had an awful season, how many times has he missed the goal, or crashed into other players, because he was too busy looking in the other direction?" Ron said.

They continued talking and chattering away about various subjects, Malfoy joining in the conversation on Quidditch and Hermione huffing about it so much that Harry spoke to her while Malfoy talked to Ron. They were getting on pretty well and continued to do so the more wine they drank. Eventually they started to run out of things new to talk about so they decided to play a small simple game.

"It's actually a muggle game," Hermione said, as she filled each persons glass. "It's called 'I never' and someone has to say something they have never done and if anyone has done it they need to take a drink from their glass. What do you think?"

"Sounds…interesting," Malfoy said with a short nod. Ron and Harry nodded too, having already played the game before, considering it was Hermione's favourite game especially when she'd had something to drink, not particularly the day after during the hangover, however. Hermione grinned wide and handed everyone a glass.

"I'll go first!" Hermione said excitedly. "I've never…broken a bone," she said proudly.

Harry, Ron and Draco all took a sip from their drinks. "Broke my leg in third year. Well I didn't, Sir-someone else did," Ron confessed when Draco frowned at them. He didn't want to mention Sirius in case it either caused tension or if Malfoy didn't know about everything that happened in third year. Harry was pretty sure he probably did but respected Ron for the consideration he was taking around the conversations.

"Second year, bludger to the arm during Quidditch," Harry shrugged figuring everyone already knew.

"When I was younger, about six or seven, I tried to climb up a column onto my parents balcony, they'd hidden one of my toys or something up in their room and I thought I'd be able to get it that way. I fell and broke my collarbone in two places," Draco admitted. Everyone cringed a little, imagining the pain of that.

"Alright, my turn," Ron said, once they had moved on. "I've never, ran away from home," Ron said.

Harry and Malfoy both took a sip and Hermione hesitated, glass half way to her lips. "Depends how you define it," she said, "Would you call obliterating all memory of you from your parents heads to fight in a war and keep them safe running away from home?" she asked.

"Uhm, no."

"Okay then," Hermione said and lowered her drink.

"Summer before third year, after I blew up my Aunt Marge, I ran away and unintentionally flagged down the knight bus," Harry explained.

"You blew up your Aunt?" Malfoy said and then burst into sniggers.

"Well when I said 'Blew up' I didn't mean with fire and such. I mean inflated and floated up to the sky," Harry explained.

"Wow," Malfoy said and continued to laugh, Ron and Hermione giggling also.

"What about you, when did you run away?" Harry asked, genuinely curious. He had always believed Malfoy had stuck by his family no matter what and wouldn't dare run away from them or the comforts of home.

"I ran away twice," Malfoy said, laughter gone now and looking down at the glass in his hand. "Once when I was really young, again only about six or seven. My- My father had just cursed me for the first time," Malfoy said. Ron, Hermione and Harry all looked at each other, a little wary but Malfoy went on. "I went to Professor Snape's house, he took me in and listened to me and naturally contacted my mother. He took me home and all I know is that My father didn't curse me after Severus spoke to him."

"That's awful," Hermione said and Harry knew that she was dithering whether to comfort him with a hug or not. He got her attention and subtly shook his head believing that Malfoy wouldn't appreciate it much coming from any of them, he didn't think Malfoy's even hugged each other anyway.

"The second time was when I was at the end of fifth year. I was told what I always suspected, that my father was mixed up with The Dark Lord. I was told that I had to make a choice. I always wanted my fathers approval so I chose to be on the families side and then I was told what I had to do, to-to kill Dumbledore. I ran away again to Severus. He told me that I could still get out and still be safe, he would make sure of that if I wanted, and I was prepared to go into hiding, I wanted to, but then he told me that if I wanted my mother and father safe too I'd have to do it. They would pay for my choice. It left me no choice I had to do it, and…well you know the rest," Malfoy explained.

The three friends sat in silence, Ron staring into his drink, and Harry and Hermione both looking at Malfoy. Harry knew that he wouldn't be saying any of this if he hadn't had a sufficient amount of alcohol, and even still he was shocked he was going into so much detail. He never really thought that he would feel sorry for Malfoy when it came to that particular situation, but he was older now and he could understand the mental and emotional torment something like that would have caused.

This time Hermione did reach out and gently clasp his forearm. Malfoy looked at her, not smiling but not scowling or tearing his arm away either. "We understand what a decision that would be," She said speaking for all three of them, Harry didn't mind, as he did understand but he had a feeling Ron wasn't quite on the same page as them where that was concerned. Malfoy still didn't smile but did nod.

They drank a significant amount more wine in silence, topping up their glasses before they continued with the game, Harry thinking for quite a while on his I Never question. He wanted to ask something that couldn't be too sensitive for anyone, but would still shed some light on each others lives, particularly Malfoy's, since he thought he knew everything about Ron and Hermione already.

"I've never…streaked naked," Harry said and watched as Ron and Hermione looked at each other before taking small embarrassed sips. He raised his eyebrows, finding that he really didn't know everything about his best friends after all and sat back waiting for them to explain.

"It was a dare. We were at home and there was nothing on the Teve so…" Ron said shrugging but with the hint of a smirk.

"So you decided to, what streak down the street for the fun of it?" Harry asked, watching Hermione's reaction closely, seeing the burn in her cheeks even though the lighting was dim.

"Television Ron," Hermione corrected before she sat up straighter, trying to act less embarrassed. "We were bored and so we started to play a game of dares. Once he dared me to do it, I dared him to do the same straight after. It was just around the garden,"

"I'm still convinced Mrs Davidson next door saw something though, she hasn't stopped grinning at me every time i see her since." Ron said. Harry just shook his head while Draco laughed clearly becoming more relaxed the more he drank.

"Alright, well I've never…flashed anyone," Malfoy said, sitting back and scanning each person waiting for someone to drink. Eventually Harry attempted to subtly take a drink but everyone was watching out for it so he was caught.

"Your kidding!" Ron said, grinning, thinking of all the possible ways he could tease Harry for this. It turned out they didn't know everything about him either.

"I was drunk!" Harry attempted to defend himself but he knew it wouldn't work. Malfoy sat forward again waiting for a better explanation, which Harry eventually gave with a hint of a smirk. "I had had a lot to drink and on the way home flashed a random guy on the street. For the record though he did end up coming home with me," Harry said.

"Harry! He could have been anyone! He could have been a murderer!" Hermione exclaimed, her face in her hands just at the thought of her friend being so stupid.

"I-I know, but he wasn't was he? so it's fine!" Harry said, now wishing all he had said was that he'd flashed the guy and nothing else. Malfoy was watching him with a raised eyebrow, his eyes flitting back and forth between Harry's face and crotch, wondering what he could possibly have that would make a random guy want to go home with him just from seeing it, or was it just because he was Harry Potter? Harry didn't notice any of this as he was too busy trying to calm Hermione down.

Eventually he managed to convince her to forget about it by offering her a little more wine and they moved on.

Their game went on for a while and even started to get a little more personal than any of them would have really liked, but they carried on regardless. And soon, after a lot more wine and quite a few inappropriate questions they were nearing one o'clock in the morning.

"Okay, okay, umm…I've never had sex at school," she said happily. Her face fell, much like it had done when she had learnt that they had all cheated on a test at school when they all took a drink from their glass. She looked crossly at Ron first, having never been told of this.

"With Lavender, sixth year," he said quietly. Hermione frowned. She had known that Ron had had sex with Lavender but had never put the two and two together that the only place they could have done so was at school.

"Ginny. Sixth year," Harry said just as quietly as Ron had, refusing to look at his best friend. That, Ron hadn't known. He'd kind of suspected that the two had done so and Hermione had even known and hinted a little but Harry had never properly told him, and with good reason too, going by the look on Ron's face, that he could just about see out the corner of his eye.

To defuse anything before it started, Malfoy jumped in and revealed when he had done so too. "Pansy and Theo Nott. Just not at the same time though. Pansy was fourth year, Theo sixth year. I still joke with Pansy that she was the one that turned me gay," he said.

It took a while for Ron to be able to move on, wanting to say something to Harry, the drink in him fuelling the need to say something but the little reason left in him telling him it was years ago and that it doesn't matter now. The fact that Harry was refusing to look at him wasn't helping any either. All Harry could think about however was how he had managed to piss off his two best friends in one night and strangely enough not anger Malfoy in the slightest, maybe even understand him a little bit more.

"I've never dated someone older than me," Ron said eventually.

Hermione, Harry and Malfoy all took a drink. Hermione shrugged, muttering "Krum" under her breath before she angered her boyfriend any more than he was already.

Harry shrugged and said "Cho Chang. If you can call that a relationship,"

Once again Malfoy's was the only one that they didn't already know the answer to. "Last year. An older gentleman I met at a bar in town, didn't last long. No stamina," he said offhandedly and they all laughed.

They refilled their glasses for the umpteenth time, none of them could really remember, all they knew was there was six empty bottles of wine and one white bottle left, and Harry carried on with the game, fuelled by more alcohol. "Alright. I've never woken up to someone giving me oral," Harry said and looked pointedly at Malfoy.

Malfoy took a large sip with a smirk and shrugged. "No regrets here. One of the best feelings in the world," he said. Harry smiled and looked round at Ron and Hermione whom were both taking sips and blushing. They refused to go into details when Malfoy urged them to.

"I've never had sex on the first date," Malfoy said eventually, once he gave up on Ron and Hermione.

Harry was the only one to take a drink and Malfoy raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Not such a prude now eh Malfoy? Twice. Oh and the guy I flashed, if you can count that," Harry explained.

"You're quite the slut eh Potter?" Malfoy said and Harry laughed.

Their game kind of fizzled out after that one considering almost all the wine was gone and Hermione was starting to doze, curled up in her chair. The boys moved onto more talk of quidditch, before they found that Hermione could huff about it even when she was half asleep and completely drunk. Ron took on the decision to go home when Hermione started to talk in her sleep about wedding dresses. They went on through the fireplace that was starting to die slightly in front of them but had come back to life when Ron threw some floo powder onto the flames.

Harry and Malfoy stayed up only a little bit longer, finishing the last bottle of white wine together, alcohol made it much easier for them to talk to each other.

"You really have changed quite a bit over the years you know Malfoy," Harry commented once he had emptied the bottle into Malfoy's glass.

"In what way?" he asked.

"Well in school we wouldn't have just played that game with each other. There would have been no chance that you would have been so kind to Ron and Hermione as you were tonight," Harry explained.

"We're not in school anymore Potter, in case you didn't notice. And you've changed a significant amount too," Malfoy said.

"Oh?"

"You're not as self righteous," Malfoy muttered.

"Maybe I've always been this way and you just didn't know me well enough," Harry suggested.

"Possibly. I doubt it though," Malfoy said with a grin. Harry rolled his eyes but smiled also. They sat in silence for a moment before Harry brought forward enough courage to ask his next question.

"Were you telling the truth about all that suff in the beginning?" He asked softly.

"What makes you think I was lying?"

"I-I don't. I just wanted to be sure," Harry said. silence.

"I was telling the truth."

"Right," he said and nodded.

"The way you answered some of the questions…I get the impression that you haven't been in a relationship with anyone in a long time," Malfoy said quietly, as if he was half hoping that Harry wouldn't really hear him, like he was embarrassed to be asking, trying to find out more about him.

"I haven't, not since that one I mentioned, Simon. That was at least four years ago," Harry admitted and Malfoy's eyebrows shot up.

"That was another thing I didn't know. You're gay?" Malfoy asked.

"Yeah. I try to keep some things to myself, out of the press. I don't go around shouting about it," Harry said.

"Yeah, I understand that," Malfoy nodded.

"I hadn't known about you either. Kind of surprised actually. I would have thought you would have wanted a little Malfoy heir," Harry said, the alcohol allowing him to say something so forward.

"Doesn't mean I still can't. Mother wasn't too bothered either, more upset that I wouldn't let her arrange a marriage. As long as I was happy though then so was she, or so she says anyway," Malfoy said.

"How is your mother anyway? I haven't asked since you moved in, is she keeping alright?"

"Sure, as well as anyone these days I suppose. She's more just lonely I think. I didn't really help matters by moving out I guess," Malfoy shrugged and took a large mouthful of wine, wincing as he swallowed it as if it was a shot of fire whisky.

"You have to think about yourself as well though Malfoy, if you weren't comfortable there then the only solution was to get out,"

"Yeah," Malfoy said.

They drained their glasses after moving onto some lighter subject matter such as what the weather had been doing lately and Harry announced he was ready for bed. Malfoy agreed and they put out the flickering flames of the fire before making their way to their rooms, they said goodnight to each other on the stairs as Harry turned into his room. He barely stripped off his clothes before he collapsed in his bed, falling asleep almost immediately, barely any time to think about how successful the night had been with everyone.

* * *

><p>Harry was woke up the next morning by a very persistent thumping headache. He tried to bury his head under the covers to block out the sunlight streaming in through the open blinds that he had been too drunk and too tired to close the night before but it turned out that wasn't what was causing the headache. It was the hangover from the night before. All he wanted to do was stay in bed all day and feel sorry for himself but he couldn't, for two reasons.<p>

The first reason was because his bladder was full to bursting from all the wine he had drank the night before and he had to crawl out of bed, stumble over his discarded clothes to the bathroom. And the second reason was that he knew that soon, roughly in about an hour if the time was anything to go by, he would have company.

He forced himself down the stairs, flicked his wrist in the direction of the coffee maker making it buzz to life. He was sure it was much louder than the last time he had used it and wished there was a way to make it a lot quieter. This was not possible however, he had tried it before during a previous hangover. Instead he set about, quietly, taking out the frying pan, sausages, bacon, egg and some bread, threw it all in the pan and let it cook while he collected the Sunday Prophet from Nicholas his owl. Nicholas hooted lowly when he didn't give him a treat but Harry just told him to wait, he could get some bacon once it was ready, as he scanned the front page, finding nothing interesting.

His coffee was finally ready and he served himself a cup and drank it slowly as he finished cooking breakfast. The thought of the food turned his stomach. He couldn't eat when he was hungover but he knew two people that could and would always rely on him for their hangover treat. Once finished he piled everything on a plate and placed it in the oven on a very low heat to keep it warm but not cook it anymore than needed. He didn't trust warming charms on food as they were unpredictable and often gave the food a bit of a metallic after taste.

He threw Nicholas some bacon and he flew off with it, before he settled at the table, head in one hand and flicking through the paper with his other, now onto his second cup of coffee. He was half way through his paper before he was joined by someone for company, just not who he was expecting.

"Morning," he said to a very rumpled dark eyed Malfoy, who had shuffled into the kitchen.

"Is it?" he mumbled, automatically going for the coffee pot. Harry chuckled before he realised that hurt his head, so he stopped.

"Rough?" he asked, not able to formulate a proper question.

"That's one word for it," Malfoy said, frowning as he sniffed the air. "Do I smell food?"

"Fry up. In the oven, help yourself," Harry said. Malfoy put his mug down on the table next to Harry and did help himself to some of the food in the oven.

"Have you even had any of this? There's loads," Malfoy said.

"Uhm…No. I can't eat when I'm hungover but Ron, Hermione and I all kind of have this tradition," Harry said, briefly remembering how Malfoy reacted to Ron and Hermione's unexpected appearance the night before. He did notice Malfoy's shoulders tense slightly but because his back was to him he couldn't tell how he was really taking it.

"Tradition?" he said and turned around, plate relatively full and placing it next to his mug.

"Yeah. Whenever we've been out or drinking, I always make the hangover food. One of those unspoken rules kind of things," Harry said, and just at that the fire blazed green and Ron and Hermione shuffled through.

"Morning," Harry said to them, glancing at Draco as he watched them come through into the kitchen. He didn't look too annoyed but he could tell he was a little tense by the way he was holding his fork.

Hermione just made a noise of agreement before moving over to the oven and pulling out the food. Ron at least managed a wave before he collapsed into a chair across from Malfoy. Hermione moved over to the table just with the plate of piled food and put it in the middle. Ron immediately plucked a sausage from the pile and started eating, not bothering with a separate plate or cutlery.

"Seriously Weasley?" Malfoy said, looking disgusted at the lack of manners being displayed.

"Shut it Malfoy," Ron said with his mouth full. Malfoy turned to look at Harry, looking even more disgusted while Hermione sat down next to Ron, elbows on the table and head in her hands, eyes closed.

"Don't mind him, he's always like this hungover. Once he's eaten, he'll be much more pleasant," Harry said to Malfoy, rustling his paper and carrying on reading.

"You're putting me off my breakfast Weasley," Malfoy commented.

"So bite me ferret," Ron said, reaching for bacon now. Harry sighed and lowered his paper again.

"Ron," he said warningly, really not wanting to wind up Malfoy even more than he was already just by them being there.

"Sorry," Ron muttered and kept his eyes on his food.

"So this happens every time you've all had a drink? Weasley is ridiculously more unpleasant than usual and Granger is unnaturally quiet and they both come over and eat your food," Malfoy said.

"Sounds about right," Harry said with a grin. Malfoy frowned and looked at Ron and Hermione, whom seemed oblivious to what Malfoy was saying. Hermione was picking at a bit of fried bread and Ron was tucking into another sausage.

"Do you remember anything from last night Harry, I really don't," Ron finally said, not sounding quite so mean or annoyed as he did a few minutes ago.

"You don't remember anything?" Harry asked.

"_I_ don't even remember anything," Hermione mumbled.

"Nothing?" Harry asked.

"Nope except…" she paused and then glared across at Harry. "I remember being annoyed at you,"

"Oh that? That was nothing," Harry said rather unconvincingly and he and Hermione both knew that. Hermione however didn't have the will power or the energy to do anything about it just now though, plus she didn't know why she had been angry anyway so she had nothing to go on.

"So neither of you remember anything from last night, not even what game we played?" Malfoy asked, just the hint of a smirk on his face as he thought about the blackmail possibilities against them should he ever needed them.

"Oh we didn't play 'I've never' did we?" Hermione said, grimacing at the thought.

"Uhm, well…" Harry trailed off grinning.

"Harry I told you never to let me suggest that game when we're drinking again. It's mortifying," Hermione said.

"I'd forgotten, sorry Hermione but you kind of insisted anyway, we weren't really given a choice," Harry said. He didn't really mind playing it when they were drunk, it normally made it more fun for him as they would spill everything and barely remember it the next day, certainly not anything that he had admitted anyway. It was a win win situation.

"How come you two aren't as hungover as us? I'm pretty sure you drank just as much," Ron said carefully examining Harry and Malfoy, trying to look for any hidden signs that they might be suffering.

"You know I don't make a fuss when I'm hungover Ron," Harry sighed.

"Yes. Not all of us feel so sorry for ourselves," Malfoy said. Ron grunted in response and finished off the plate of food sat between he and Hermione. Hermione had barely eaten any of it, being more like Harry, not wanting to eat much when hung over in the fear of bringing it back up again.

When Ron and Malfoy had finished eating Harry took their plates and went over to the sink to clean them up. Malfoy pinched his paper and hid behind it instead of having to speak to Ron and Hermione, before Hermione came over to help with the dishes, drying them by hand to draw out the time she had to speak to Harry privately. In the background Ron was pleading with Malfoy for the sports section, to no avail.

"You know I think Natasha was right. He has seemed to have changed since school," Hermione said quietly.

"We were saying the same thing last night about each other after you guys left," Harry said focusing on the grease spots on the plates, knowing they'd be gone in seconds by magic.

"I remember why I was angry with you," Hermione said after a few minutes of silence apart from Ron and Malfoy's gentle bickering. "I remember you telling us about your fling with Kevin,"

"Go on then," Harry sighed.

"What?"

"Chew me out, tell me I was stupid and irresponsible," Harry said.

"I don't think I need to. You obviously already know all of that. Seriously though Harry? He was your secretary, and pretty much our friend," Hermione said.

"I'm aware of that Hermione but it's done now, there's no point in moaning at me about it, I can't change what happened," Harry told her and she huffed loudly beside him, but stayed silent, for a little less than a full minute.

"Harry when are you going to stop this sleeping around stuff? Don't you want to be in a relationship?" she said quietly so that they weren't over heard.

"Hermione…" Harry warned, having had this lecture before, and really not wanting to revisit it, especially not in the middle of a hangover.

"No Harry, we're going to talk about this. So you've been hurt before, so what? Are you seriously telling me that you can lead a war but can't even find the strength to let yourself fall in love?" Hermione said.

"You know that's completely different Hermione. How can you even compare the two, plus why are you so interested hmm? Why do you want me to be in a relationship so badly?" Harry asked, rinsing the last plate clean and leaning against the countertop to listen to her excuses.

"Because I want you to be happy Harry," Hermione said softly.

"I am happy being the way I am. More than happy, why don't you believe me?" Harry said.

"I know you Harry, don't bullshit me like this," Hermione said, her soft tone changing to stern in a second.

"Whatever Hermione," Harry said pushing away from the counter and her. "I'm done talking about this with you," he said, drawing Ron and Malfoy's attention.

"Talking about what?" Ron asked, curiosity peeked, his fight for the sports section, that had unbelievably still been going on, forgotten about.

"Nothing," Harry snapped and stomped off towards the stairs. "Help yourselves and see yourselves out," He stormed off up the stairs after that, even with Hermione shouting after him. He now agreed with Hermione. He didn't want to play 'I've never' when they'd been drinking, ever again.

* * *

><p>Harry had stayed in his room for the rest of the day, reluctantly getting on with paperwork even though he had quite a sore head. He started to grow hungry at around lunch time and even though he was feeling like he could stomach some food and he was sure Ron and Hermione had gone home by then, he didn't want Malfoy asking him any questions about his and Hermione's conversation. By dinner time he was starving and now had a pounding headache. He gave in and was packing his things away, ready to go down and make dinner, or at least find something to eat, when there was a knock on the door.<p>

"Yeah?" Harry responded reluctantly, thinking Malfoy wouldn't be very likely to want to visit for a chat and wondering if Ron and Hermione were still around or had come back. The door opened and Malfoy's blonde hair proceeded his face around the door.

"Hey, you alright?" He asked and Harry had to stop himself from raising his eyebrows in surprise. He did blink a few times too many however.

"Uhm, yeah. I was just coming down to make something for dinner," Harry explained.

"Oh, well, I took care of that," Malfoy said, stepping into the room properly, carrying a large pizza box with him.

"How…?" Harry started as Malfoy walked across the room, opening the box and placing it on Harry's bed.

"Granger left me the number for the muggle Pizza company and told me that you liked ham and pineapple and showed me how to use that muggle communication devise on the kitchen counter, the kellyphone?"

"Telephone," Harry said.

"Yeah that. I did that, ordered it and waited outside for it, cause they couldn't get to the front door obviously, and Granger had told me were you kept the muggle money, don't worry though I replaced it with the equivalent of our money," Malfoy explained.

"Wow, thanks Malfoy," Harry said, his mouth watering as the smells of the cheese and the just general pizza smells reached him.

Malfoy perched on the edge of Harry's bed, flicking his wand at Harry's paper work, making it fly into a pile and settle itself on Harry's desk across the room. Harry arched his eyebrows and settled back on his bed. Malfoy positioned the pizza between them and Harry noticed half the pizza had tuna and sweetcorn on it. Malfoy took a slice of that side and gestured Harry to start eating. He did so and frowned, knowing a week ago he had no idea that he would be sharing a pizza with Malfoy in his room. He figured he didn't mind so much and it didn't even feel that strange.

"Have you been doing that all day?" Malfoy asked gesturing to the paperwork.

"Yeah. It's just never ending these days," Harry said.

"I see that, seems like that's all you ever do," Malfoy said.

"Pretty much is, apparently ever since the war the paperwork has doubled from what it used to be," Harry explained. Malfoy nodded and they ate a couple more slices of pizza in silence.

"We don't need to talk about what happened this morning you know, it's none of my business, it never needs to be mentioned again," Malfoy said.

"Thanks," Harry said after studying Malfoy for a second to make sure he was be genuine. He seemed to be. "Were Ron and Hermione angry at me after a stormed off?"

"Not really. Granger was a bit miffed that she was being ignored. Weasley was just annoyed that he didn't know what was going on," Malfoy said. Harry nodded and they fell into another silence, filled just by the noises while they ate.

"Thank you Malfoy, for the pizza and…well everything," Harry said.

"Don't mention it Potter," Malfoy said cheerfully and smiled at Harry. Harry smiled back and wondered if this classified them as friends now or not. He supposed he'd see how it goes.


	5. Chapter 5

Home is where the heart is.

This whole going to the library to write thing is actually working. I'm about half way through this chapter and it's only been two weeks I think. I've even thought about going more than once a week, I've been writing more than once a week, but it's easier in the Library with no distractions. I like writing my AN as I go sometimes because of the moods I'm in and when I actually have something to say. I bet you hate my ramblings up here, and aren't really interested in where or how I write but I can't help it, it's something I've always done.

Anyway, this chapter is half from Draco's perspective and half from Harry's which is more Draco than I've ever done before in one chapter. I don't know what it is but I really enjoy writing Draco. He's just so quirky and fun to write and for some reason he comes easier than Harry. [No pun intended there by the way.] There's a lot more of his relationships with his friends and his mother so that's nice to see. It jumps back and forth a lot so I hope you can keep up. I thought it was obvious but that's more likely because I'm writing it.

There is also quite a big step in his and Harry's relationship, you'll probably notice it off the bat as it's sometimes a pretty big deal in the fandom. First one to point it out gets a treat of their choice. As long as it's within reason and free. I'm skint.

Whoa. This just keeps getting longer. Longest yet by far. Hope you enjoy it though and it's not too long. Thank you to all that keep commenting and adding to favourites etc. I hope this is okay and there aren't any mistakes I missed.

* * *

><p>Part five.<p>

"Hey mate, you ready?" Ron asked as he poked his head around the door of Harry's office, of which Harry had only just entered himself a moment ago.

Harry looked up from the memo he was reading and frowned at Ron, for two reasons. He was surprised his first question was not about what happened on Sunday and he had no idea what he was talking about. "Ready for what?"

"To go out on the field man. I blew off Simmons so that I could be your partner today, remember?" Ron said.

"Oh. Right. I don't know if I can, there's so much stuff to go over from the weekend…" Harry said gazing at the pile left in his 'in tray' and the emptiness of his 'out tray' desperately wishing he didn't feel so obligated by it. He really wanted to go out today, he'd come in his auror robes and everything, but the minute he saw the piles he had thought he had better stay in today.

"Oh come on Harry, what other chance are you going to get to go out in the field with me? It was all cleared with Kingsley, he'll understand," Ron said, giving a pleading look. Harry sighed and left the memo, that was in his hands, on the centre of the desk for him to get later.

"Alright, but I'll work extra tonight to get through some of this," Harry said, shuffling papers on his desk, so it looked a little bit tidier.

"Whatever makes you feel better mate, now come on, a muggle witnessed an apparation earlier and they've only just been able to revive him," Ron said, adjusting his wand holder and making sure he had everything he needed.

"Revive him?"

"Yeah the guy fainted and they can't obliviate him until he's awake,"

"Alright," Harry said with a shrug, grabbed his cloak and his own wand holder, attaching it to his belt as he left the room. "I'm out on the field today Nat, will be back later though, you know the drill right?"

Natasha smiled at him "Of course I do. Have fun boys," she said before going back to a letter she was writing.

"Cheers," Harry said and he and Ron left out into the corridor leading to the lifts. Harry pulled his cloak on, fastening it under his chin and adjusting his collar as they walked. They were silent until the got into the lift, which was unusually empty.

"You know we don't have to talk about what happened on Sunday," Ron finally said, it obviously playing on his mind as much as it had been on Harry's.

"Why? Because Hermione has already told you her side of the story?" Harry asked.

"No, well yes she has, but I know what Hermione's like. She takes things out of context and she meddles where she isn't needed. I'm just saying, we don't need to talk about it, it never has to be mentioned between us," Ron shrugged.

"Thanks,"

"Just, if Hermione asks, I hounded you all day about it, right?" Ron said and Harry laughed.

"Alright mate, if that keeps you in the good books with her," he said.

"Too right. You might have some trouble though. She's still pretty pissed at you,"

"Yeah, I guessed as much. I'll talk to her later, I'm still a little pissed about it with her just now too," Harry said as the lift stopped and they were let out into the Atrium.

"Understandable," Ron shrugged again and they grinned at each other before making their way towards the exit.

* * *

><p>Draco looked up as the bell above the door of his shop chimed and Blaise and Pansy entered, laughing at whatever joke had been told before hand. Draco was already pulling on his cloak before they even said 'hello.' He made his way around the counter checking that everything was in order and nothing would over heat or blow up while he was away.<p>

"Hungry?" Pansy smirked with a raised eyebrow at how quickly Draco was ready to leave, considering normally it took him a good half hour to faff around and be ready.

"Famished, come on," Draco said, stalking past them and pulling open the door.

"Where's the fire Draco?" Blaise said, but quickly followed out the door after the look he got from his friend at his poor choice of words. Draco flipped the sign to 'Closed for lunch' and spelled the door locked behind them.

"I told you, I'm hungry. Now come on, it always takes ages for them to bring our order," Draco said and they set off up Diagon alley. It was bright and sunny but deceivingly cold, the last of winter determined to hang around a little longer. They walked along in silence, not able to talk to each other even if they wanted to thanks to the noise of the people around them and the crowd that meant they frequently got separated.

Eventually they managed to step into the little cafe that, once a week they met to have lunch together and catch up. During the week, depending on their schedules, Draco would have lunch with either one of them, but they always made sure to meet up together at least once, not that a whole lot happened that they needed to talk about within a week, but they were friends and it was about the only chance they got to socialise.

They took their normal booth nearest the window and pulled out the menu's even though they always had the same thing every time they came. The waitress came over and grinned at the three of them, brandishing her pen and pad.

"Anything to drink today?"

"Coffee for me please," Draco said.

"Make that two," Blaise said, tossing the menu aside, having barely even glanced at the cover never mind the contents inside.

"Just a water thanks," Pansy said.

"And just the usual to eat?" the waitress asked. All three nodded and she grinned and took off, towards the kitchen. Draco briefly thought they should maybe try eating somewhere else for lunch, but this place did the best macaroni he had ever tasted so he was reluctant to give it up.

"So, how's living with Potter going?" Pansy was first to jump in, quick off the mark to get the conversation started, to find out what she and Blaise were really waiting for.

"Awful," Draco lied, folding his arms and leaning on the table, wishing they would hurry up with the coffee as he needed something to do with his hands while he thought about reasons that Potter might be insufferable to live with.

"Worse than you expected?" Blaise asked, grinning, taking pleasure in the fact that Potter was awful to live with.

"Definitely worse."

"What does he do? Does he have any disgusting habits? A secret stash of Dark Arts books?" Pansy asked, leaning forward, eager for gossip.

"I can't tell you any of that can I? 'Cause of that thing he made me sign," Draco said, hoping it would be enough of an explanation for them that he wouldn't have to make up too much, it was true, he was limited to what he could tell them but it wasn't as strict as he was going to make out it was.

"I thought that was just for the press. _I_ thought, you could tell us and then we could go to the press about it," Pansy said with a smirk, looking over to Blaise sitting next to her and giving him a nudge and a wink.

"Nah, I read through it thoroughly, can't tell you guys,"

"How would he even know?" Blaise asked as their drinks arrived and he took the warm cup of coffee into his hands as Pansy sipped her water.

"Are you kidding? I'm willing to bet Granger helped him draw it up and you remember what she did to that girl in fifth year with their stupid army? I bet it would be ten times worse. I did find the loophole though. I can say anything I want if I choose to leave the house and move out of my own accord," Draco said sipping his too hot coffee and shuddering as it burned down his throat.

"Well that's a bit stupid, isn't it?" Pansy said frowning.

"Well considering I'd go to prison for it, I suppose not," Draco shrugged, lying again. It wasn't quite as serious but they weren't to know that.

"Can he even do that?" Blaise asked.

"He's head Auror, pretty much means he can do whatever he wants where the law is concerned," Draco shrugged again and took another sip of his drink, forgetting how hot it was. He wanted the conversation over with, to move on to something else. Really he should have expected this and should have been more prepared and he kicked himself for not realising this sooner.

"So you can't even tell us why it's awful living with Potter?" Pansy asked, sounding thoroughly disappointed.

Draco frowned and squinted out the window as he thought. "If I choose my words right I should be okay, just tell me if I start to break out in spots or anything," Blaise and Pansy sniggered but nodded once Draco gave them a serious look. "His friends are over, just about twenty four seven. It's like they can't do anything unless they're together. They rely on each other for just about everything," Draco explained.

"Do they tell you before they turn up?" Blaise asked and Draco shook his head.

"Can you imagine waking up and walking into your kitchen to find those lot there?" Pansy said screwing up her face.

"Exactly," Draco said.

"What about the housing contract, have you had a chance to get hold of it yet?" Blaise asked quietly, just incase anyone was listening in on the conversation, since a new couple had just sat down in the booth next to theirs.

"Not yet. I've not really been there while he hasn't so I haven't had the chance. I'm waiting for him to visit his friends house instead for once. I don't know whether he trusts me in the house on my own yet," Draco told him. Truthfully, he'd half forgotten about his plan. Apart from Blaise having mentioned it during the week, he'd not even thought much about it since the first few days of living with Potter.

"Probably a wise decision," Pansy laughed. Draco just shook his head and blew around the rim of his coffee.

Pansy went on to ask Blaise if he had gone on a date with the girl he liked from his work yet and he lost interest in the conversation and looked out the window at the busy street. He wondered what they would say if he told them that, actually, he didn't mind living with Potter so much, that he was actually quite pleasant most of the time, and was probably easier to live with than either of them. Of course he wasn't about to do so. He knew better. He was just pondering what their reactions would be. Probably one of shock and disgust.

He had just been about to turn back to look around the restaurant and try and get back into the swing of his friends conversation when a flash of ginger hair caught his eye out of the window and he saw Weasley and Potter, huddled in their cloaks against the cold wind that had picked up, heading for the restaurant he sat in. He swore quietly under his breath before turning away from the window hoping they wouldn't see him.

"I don't know Pansy. The other day she said something strange to me-" Blaise was saying but all Draco was conscious of was the door opening behind him and two sets of feet shuffling in. He didn't know why he was so anxious about it, maybe it was because he didn't want Potter ruining everything and acting like they would at home, quite friendly, in front of Blaise and Pansy, ruining everything he had lied about. He really wasn't sure that was it though.

He watched out of the corner of his eye as Potter and Weasley went right up to the counter near the back of the room and said something to the waitress behind it. He sipped his coffee and nodded as Blaise carried on with his story even though he wasn't listening in the slightest. The waitress fluttered her eyelashes at Potter, even Malfoy could see her do it at a side glance, and then dipped back into the kitchen. Potter leant against the counter, scanning the room while Weasley talked to him. Malfoy looked over and Potter just nodded at him, hint of a smile on his lips, and turned back to focus on what his friend was saying. Malfoy sighed with what he could only assume was relief that Potter didn't make a move over to them.

Malfoy turned back to his friends just as Blaise looked past Pansy and saw Potter and Weasley. He stopped his story mid way and nudged Pansy to look. "It's Potter,"

Pansy whipped around and her eyebrows rose. "Huh, what a coincidence."

"One word for it," Malfoy shrugged just as their food arrived at last. The waitress didn't offer them refills like she normally would have done, instead she just told them to enjoy and weaved back to the counter, flitting around Potter and Weasley, cleaning where it wasn't necessary.

Blaise tutted at her behaviour while Pansy scowled in her general direction. She hadn't even brought over condiments, and Draco knew from experience that he could not eat the restaurants macaroni without some salt added to it first, it may have been the best Macaroni but that was only after Draco adjusted it to his liking first, and he'd just got it right.

He sighed and rose from the table, "I'll go get some salt, you want anything?" he asked the other two. They shook their heads, tucking into their food, not holding onto their discontent for too long. Draco weaved between the tables and reached the counter, clearing his throat.

The waitress looked up expectantly, no smile on her face when she realised it wasn't Potter wanting to get her attention. Draco took some pride in knowing she was barking up the wrong tree. "Could I get some salt please?" he asked politely, feeling Potter's eyes on him. The waitress huffed and stomped off through to the kitchen without another word.

Draco turned and found Potter and Weasley both looking at him. "Malfoy," Weasley said with a nod in a way of greeting, which was considerably more than what he would have gotten a week ago.

"Weasley, Potter, skiving are we?" Draco asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Never," Potter grinned.

"What's with the robes?" Draco commented, referring to the robes the pair wore for when they were out on the field, which of course was quite a bit different from what they wore when they were stuck in their office, them being tailored to be light but durable and littered with various items to help them do their jobs.

"Out on the field today," Potter told him, his grin growing and Draco realised this was a rarity for Potter to get out of his office. "Just picking up lunch before we move on to our next home visit,"

"Sounds fun," Draco said with a raised eyebrow as the waitress came back through. She was scowling until she saw that Potter and Draco were talking. She frowned slightly but gently placed Draco's pillar of salt in front of him.

"There's your salt sir, is there anything else I can get you?" she said with a smile.

Draco smirked and glanced at Potter whom was hiding his grin in his collar, obviously having realised the difference in the girls attitude too. "No thanks," he said.

"See you at home Potter," he said as he left with his salt and Potter nodded.

Draco sat back down at his table and shook salt onto his macaroni. Pansy and Blaise were back into their deep conversation about the girl Blaise didn't stop talking about and going into great detail about what she meant when she told him she liked his cloak. Draco fell back into the thoughts in his head, conscious of Potter and Weasley taking their food to go and leaving, retreating up the street the same way they came.

* * *

><p>Draco arrived home just past seven o'clock, stepping into the dark kitchen, surprised and a little disorientated at the lack of sounds and smells. The kitchen was completely empty and he had to cast a lumos just to see past himself. He lit the candles that sat extinguished in their brackets on the wall and stepped over to the stairs leading up to the rest of the house, listening for any noises of Potter being home.<p>

"Potter?" He called up, leaning on the banister, trying to see onto the landing, but everything was dark and quiet. "Harry?" he shouted louder, just to make sure. Nothing.

He frowned, having gotten used to the schedule they found themselves in, that Potter would be home first and normally have dinner ready, or nearly ready. He was a little concerned, wondering if he had merely been caught up at work or what, he dreaded to think. He moved over to the cooker and worktops, drawn by a sheet of parchment left there, quill resting on top of it.

_Malfoy,_

_Had to stay late a work, shouldn't be later than ten. I came home once I'd come off my last job and made meatloaf, it's in the oven, should just need heated up. Enjoy._

_Harry._

Draco felt a little better knowing where Potter was now, but couldn't shake the slight unease of being in the house alone. He now understood why Potter didn't like living here alone. It did have a slight creepiness to it. He peered into the oven and saw that the plate of meatloaf, mashed potatoes and carrots sat in there. He was hungry and it would give him something to focus on other than the loneliness.

He pulled out the plate and cast a heating charm on the food, not really caring about the slight aftertaste that would be left, hungry enough to not want to wait on it heating in the stupid slow muggle contraption. He sat down at the table with it and pulled the Evening Prophet towards him that had been left lying on the table.

He read and ate at the same time and even carefully did the dishes and cleaned up after himself, drawing out the time until Potter was supposed to be home. Even by doing all that it was only quarter to eight by the time he was finished and he wondered what he could do next.

He wandered on up to the entrance hall and the curtains of that awful woman's portrait caught his eye. He went over and just looked at it for a moment, it being completely silent, almost as if there was not a horrible shrieking witch behind it. He carefully prodded the curtain with the tip of his wand but nothing happened. He thought he must be crazy for deciding to do it but he did it anyway, and clapped his hands twice. Just like when Potter had done it, the curtains flew open and the old large woman started shouting obscenities at him.

He winced but stood his ground and tried to shout over her shrieks. "I'm not a blood traitor! I'm part of your family!" He shouted. He had to shout it a few more times before the woman opened her eyes and her shouts disintegrated into nothing as she took him in. The house fell completely silent as she stared down at him, narrowing her eyes.

"Lucius?" She asked squinting at him and Draco's eyebrows shot up, shocked that she knew of his father.

"No, no I'm his son, his and Narcissa's son, Draco," He said. Recognition showed on her face which he was surprised of considering he didn't think Portraits could display that much emotion.

"I see, and what are you doing in the house of Black?" she asked.

"Well…I live here now," he said.

"Liar! That half blood mongrel lives here," she shouted and Draco took a step back, cringing. Even when he was at the height of hating Potter he never thought of calling him a mongrel. Granger maybe, Weasley definitely but not Potter.

"Well yes he does but I live with him," he said and her eyes started to grow wilder and angrier. "No! I'm just a roommate- housemate. We're barely even friends. He wanted company and when I found out it was this…grand noble house I couldn't let him live here and tarnish it all, could I?" he told her and her face straightened a little.

"Why have you chosen to bother me boy?" she asked tersely and he realised that there would be no sweet talking her, he figured she barely liked anyone never mind if they were her own family or not.

"Well, I would quite like to maybe find the documents for the house, to see if there was any way that I would be able to get the ownership of it back to its rightful place. I don't suppose you know anything about your sons will or anything?" he asked.

"I most certainly do not. Incase you didn't notice I'm a _portrait_. I do not have the means that it would take to snoop on my god forsaken son. Not that I would even want to," Mrs Black said, tilting her head upwards to show herself above such things.

"Oh, okay," he said.

"Now if you don't mind, kindly close my curtains and be on your way," she said. He nodded and started to tug the curtains closed. "I'm sorry for not being of any help," she said quietly as the curtains came together. Draco stepped back and pondered about the sudden change of tone she had at the end, contemplating opening the curtains again before deciding otherwise and moving off, heading up the stairs. He saw no point in looking in Potters' room, knowing it would probably be locked and have some kind of charm on it so that he couldn't get in, or would be detected if he did get in, plus the fact that he could be home any minute and would catch him and the whole plan would be ruined.

He went up to the study, pulled out a book he had started reading a long time ago and went back down to the drawing room to start it again, sitting in front of the fire, finding it slightly more relaxing than being anywhere else in the house at the moment. He even almost forgot that he was alone as he sank into the chair and got absorbed in his book.

At some point, about a third of the way through his book he must have dozed off, the fire warm and comforting and making him drowsy. He dozed somewhere in-between being asleep and almost awake, aware of noises from outside like cars and sirens, incorporating them into his dreams. He only woke up again fully when his book slipped from his fingers and thumped on the floor.

He started awake and blinked at his surrounding, the light in the room dimming as the fire and the candles started to burn out. He sent a lumos up towards the roof where it bobbed, illuminating the whole room again. Draco picked up his book and glanced at the clock above the fireplace. It was ten past midnight. Potter should be home by now.

He stood, stretching out his legs, regaining feeling in them after the way he had been sitting in his chair for so long. He extinguished the candles and the fire and left his book in his chair before he nudged the ball of light from his spell along in front of him, lighting the way down to the kitchen. Potter wasn't there and it didn't look like anything had been disturbed at all from when Draco was last there. He double checked the note that had been left, making sure he said he would be home by ten. He then went to search the rest of the house. Potter was not home.

Unease settled in Draco's stomach as he went back to the kitchen and paced the floor. He shouldn't be so worried. It was Potter. What did he care if something happened to him? Well that was stupid, of course he cared. They didn't see eye to eye but he didn't hate him, he certainly didn't wish him dead or any harm at all really. But it was Potter. Surely he could take care of himself? He'd defeated the Dark Lord, whatever was left out there shouldn't be worse than that surely?

Draco grew even more worried as half past midnight came and went and still there was no sign of Potter. He started chewing on his lip as he realised he didn't even have a way of getting in touch with him at his work. What if there was an emergency? What if the house caught fire or something and he had to let him know. He had no way of doing so apart from marching all the way down to the Ministry, and that was only if he was even in his office, what if he was out on the field? They couldn't rely on owls, too slow.

He wondered if Weasley was with Potter. He didn't know if this was a pro or a con when it came to their safety. He had no idea what kind of Auror Weasley was, but if he was as unpredictable as he was a person then it didn't look good for Potter. He wasn't out on the field, just in his office if his note was anything to go by but surely he could have just taken whatever he needed done home with him? There was so much Draco didn't know and he didn't like not knowing things.

He had just sat down at the table for the second time, alternating between that and pacing in front of the fire, when the thought came to him. He could contact Granger. If Weasley was with him then she would be worried he wasn't home yet, wouldn't she? And if he wasn't then he could always ask a way of getting in touch with him when he was at the Ministry. How would he be able to justify wanting to know that at half past twelve at night without sounding like he was worried about him though?

He contemplated this before figuring he'd sort that out when she asked. Potter could be lying dying in a gutter somewhere right now for all he knew, he could potentially save his life. He'd be condemned if he didn't do something to save The Chosen One's life. He was doing it for his own benefit really. Of course deep down he knew this couldn't possibly be true. Potter was in his office. He hoped Potter was still in his office, what if he had been kidnapped?

He sprinkled floo powder into the fireplace and got on his hands and knees, it wasn't until he was about to stick his head into the fire before he realised he didn't know Granger's address. He leant back on his heels and tried to think back to the few times he had seen them leave, trying to remember what they shouted as they went. Considering the only times he'd seen it he had been drunk or hungover it was remarkable that he had managed to scrounge up any memory and hope for the best as he stuck his head in the green flames and shouted the address.

His head whizzed past fireplace after fireplace until he finally stopped and shook his head to clear the slight dizziness. He blinked a few times and tried to look around the darkened room. The only light was coming from a far corner where a slither of light was coming from a large metal box he knew to be a muggle contraption. A silhouette of a woman was displayed in the light but he couldn't tell if it was Granger or not.

Before he could stop himself he sneezed from the ashes, billowing around him and the woman turned with a small squeal, wand out and poised towards him. She came closer, her wand lighting up as she went and it allowed Draco to see Granger, her hair tied back in a messy bun, tendrils of curls fighting to break free around her face and in her fluffy pink dressing gown. He sighed in relief just glad that he had gotten the right address.

"Malfoy? What are you doing in my fireplace?" she asked, dropping to her knees beside him.

"Sorry it's late," Draco said, suddenly feeling foolish for even thinking this was a good idea.

Granger squinted down at her watch and raised her eyebrows, "Malfoy it's half past midnight, what are you doing?"

"Well uhm, is Weasley still at work with Potter?" Draco asked, choosing to go with that question first.

"No, he came home at six like normal. He mentioned Harry was staying late to finish paper work. He still isn't back yet?" she asked.

"No, that's why I'm here, I was umm…wanting to ask him something and then realised I don't have his coordinates for his fireplace at work. I mean, I'm guessing it's got a password and things right?" Draco asked.

"Yeah, it's got to have one." she said absently and squinted at him in the dark "Couldn't your question have waited until the morning though Malfoy?" Granger asked, rubbing her face with her hand and he realised how tired she looked.

"Right, probably. Is it normal for him to work this late though?" he asked.

Granger shrugged. "Sometimes, it's not unknown anyway,"

"Right. He did say though that he wouldn't be later than ten o'clock, did you say he was just doing paperwork?" Draco said, worrying less about whether Granger thought he was worried about Potter and worrying more about Potter himself.

"I really don't know Malfoy, I could wake Ron and ask him, he could go check on him or something? Maybe he's just fallen asleep at work? That wouldn't be a first time either you know," Granger shrugged.

"No, no it's fine, I'll just wait until morning to ask him what I wanted to ask him. You're probably right, he'll just have fallen asleep," Draco said but he wasn't convinced.

"Do you want the password to his fireplace Malfoy? I'm sure he wouldn't mind me giving it to you," Granger said, breaking off with a yawn.

"Uhm, well yes. It's a handy thing to have isn't it?" Malfoy said. She smiled and wrote down the four digit number on a piece of parchment she snatched off the kitchen table.

"There you go," she said once she finished.

"Thank you, sorry for bothering you this late Granger," he said and took the parchment in between his teeth since his hands were back in Grimmauld place.

"That's okay. Goodnight Malfoy," she said as she stood and brushed down her knees. He nodded and yanked his head back, clutching the parchment in his teeth terrified of loosing it on the way back. He stumbled back, falling to his back as he was pushed out of the fire and spat out the parchment.

He stood, dusted himself off and picked the parchment back up, studying it. He felt wary of using it, like he had done when going to contact Granger. He looked at the clock, quarter to one, and decided to settle at the table and wait until at least one o'clock before going ahead, giving Potter time to get home between now and then, just in case.

He pulled the newspaper back to him and started flicking through it for the second time, glancing between the clock and the fireplace every few minutes. He was just contemplating making himself a cup of tea when the fireplace lit green and Potter stepped into the kitchen. Draco smiled with relief as Potter frowned around the kitchen, eyes eventually landing on Draco.

"Malfoy? What are you doing still up?" he asked.

"Couldn't sleep," Draco said arranging his face away from the smile he'd had.

"Don't you have work in the morning?" Potter said squinting at him and dumping his briefcase on the kitchen table.

"No I'm off on Tuesday's remember? You do though. How are you expected to work so late then get up so earlier the next day?" Draco asked casually as if he hadn't just spent the past hour worrying about him.

"I'm not. I clocked enough hours that I don't have to go in until one tomorrow afternoon, unless they call me in of course," Potter explained.

"Oh, okay," Draco nodded and looked back down at the paper. Potter frowned at him and noticed the piece of parchment with his password on the table beside Draco.

"Where did you get that?" Potter asked and Draco swallowed hard, not needing to look up from his paper to know what he was referring to. Would he have to explain how worried he was? How he was minutes away from storming into his office, demanding that he come home soon?

"I uh…well it occurred to me that I had no way of contacting you in case of an emergency and so I went to Granger and she gave me it, said you wouldn't mind," Draco explained neglecting to mention that it was only a few minutes ago, making it sound as if he had done so earlier in the evening.

"Oh. Right. I suppose, yeah I never thought of that," Potter said.

"Yes well." Draco said and folded up his paper. "I'm going to try and get some sleep now. I'll see you in the morning,"

"Yeah. Goodnight Draco," Potter said tiredly, rubbing his eyes as he did so. Draco paused at the first step, taken aback by the use of his first name but carried on up the stairs, deciding not to draw attention to it, figuring it might just have been because he was tired.

"Goodnight," he said and carried on. The swooping in his stomach that he been constant for about an hour had disappeared at last and even though he knew it was because he now knew Potter was safe he wasn't about to start thinking or talking about that. That would cause all sorts of dramas and worries that he really didn't need.

* * *

><p>Harry rubbed tiredly at his eyes as he padded down the stairs to the kitchen. His toes curled as they came in contact with the cold floor and he wished he'd put on some socks or something. Draco was already sat at the kitchen table reading the morning paper.<p>

"Morning," Draco smiled at him before he focused back on his paper, frowning at the story he was reading.

"Morning, How much sleep did you actually get?" Harry asked, squinting at his watch, noticing it was half past eight, a lie in for him but still early. He was only up because his body wouldn't let him sleep anymore.

"Enough," Draco shrugged. "There's coffee in the pot and toast and scrambled eggs in the oven, they should still be fresh and warm enough, I'm not long finished making them,"

"Oh, okay thanks," Harry nodded and poured himself some coffee and sat down at the table with his breakfast.

"What are your plans for today then, since you have it off?" He asked, making conversation since he didn't have the paper to occupy him.

"I thought I'd go and see my mother, I haven't visited since I moved in. I want to make sure that she is okay," Draco said.

"Sounds like a good idea," Harry agreed.

"What are you doing with your free morning?" Draco asked, returning the favour, not particularly interested, mainly just asking to be polite.

"I don't know. I've been thinking about visiting Luna, I've got a book I think she might like, I might pop in on Molly and Arthur's on my way back too, kill two birds with one stone," Harry said. Draco raised his eyebrows and looked over his paper, rustling the pages straight.

"Really? You still speak to Loony Lovegood?" Draco commented.

"Don't call her that, she's one of my good friends, it's a pity I don't see her as much as I used to," Harry said, frowning at his plate, feeling a little guilty for his neglect. He always found time to see Ron and Hermione but it was harder to do so with some of his other school friends. He kind of had to be in the mood to hang out with Luna though, it was quite challenging sometimes.

"Whatever you say," Draco said. Harry shrugged and carried on eating his breakfast. They spent the next half hour in silence, Draco reading his paper and Harry pottering around the kitchen. He'd noticed a few things had been moved around now that Draco was cooking more and spending more time in the kitchen making things. It was mainly little things like the coffee jar no longer sat between the tea and the sugar but on the outside, and the tomato sauce being in the pasta cupboard rather than the condiments cupboard. Even though they were just little things, Harry couldn't help putting them back in what he believed was their proper places.

Eventually he retreated back upstairs and showered and dressed, getting ready to head out. Draco called through his bedroom door that he would be leaving for his mothers and Harry heard the front door shut moments later. He then too headed out armed with his book for Luna and prepared for her banter, or at least a little bit prepared.

* * *

><p>"Mother?" Draco called out as he let himself into the house. He didn't really think she would be able to hear him, unless she was on the ground floor which he knew she probably wouldn't be. He stepped forward, shrugging off his cloak and was startled by a small crack in front of him. He'd become unaccustomed to house elves being around. "Oh, Florence, where's mother?"<p>

"Sir, welcome, mistress is upstairs in her room sir. She is always up in her room since sir moved out," Florence said taking his cloak from him and turning away. A woosh of guilt settled in Draco's stomach and he glared at the back of the elves head.

"Thanks," he said sarcastically and turned up the grand staircase. He reached her room and knocked on the door, stepping inside before she answered.

"Mother?" he said again, softer this time as he peered around the door and saw her sitting up in bed, fully clothed, on top of the covers and reading a book. She turned and her face lit up at the sight of him.

"Dragon! I didn't hear you come in!" she said, pushing herself up. Draco crossed the room before she stood and leant down to kiss her on the cheek.

"Well no wonder, being all the way up here," he said, perching on the edge of her bed as she took one of his hands, holding it tightly as if afraid he might go somewhere if she didn't.

"Well I wanted to finish the chapter I was on," She said gesturing to the book she had laid down. Draco realised it was one of those romance novels that middle aged women enjoyed so much and he frowned. He never thought of his mother as a middle aged woman, she was just his mother, young and happy and gentle and elegant.

"Florence said that you spend a lot of time up here now a days," Draco said deciding not to voice his thoughts and she smiled.

"I'm surprised she even noticed the difference," she said softly and then stood, dropping his hands and sweeping over to the fireplace and lighting it with her wand.

"How have you been anyway?" Draco asked, turning to watch her as she moved around the fireplace, dusting and moving ornaments around.

"Excellent of course. I wondered when you would visit. Is this all I get now, a visit once a week?" She asked, a hint of teasing in her voice.

"I'll visit whenever you want me to," Draco said quickly, the guilt from earlier pushing him to say so.

"Don't be silly Draco, I know your busy with work and your social life, I realise that, I don't expect you to visit all the time," she said with a small laugh as she turned and sat back down beside him on the bed.

"I want to visit though, I love you and care about you, I want you to be happy."

"And I want to same for you too and I am perfectly happy thank you very much," she said, holding her head up high.

"I know, I just…" Draco trailed off wondering where he was going with this exactly. It's not like he wanted to move back or anything, he just felt like he could be around more.

"I understand Dragon," she said brushing his hair back off of his face, grinning at him. He smiled back in fondness to his pet name, realising he maybe missed home and his mother's presence more than he thought he did.

"Come on, I'll show you your new room," she said happily, moving swiftly off of the bed and towards the door.

"You've finished it already?" Draco asked.

"Almost. Well, Horatio almost has," she said with a wider grin as they climbed the stairs.

"Horatio?" Draco asked.

"Yes, he's been doing all the work, I've just been telling him what to do, did you really think I could do all the decorating myself?" his mother said.

Draco didn't say anything, just followed her up the stairs and down the hallway to what was technically still his bedroom. He had realised why he was feeling so guilty and nostalgic for his mother. She was having a good day. He had to keep in mind that this was rare and everyday was not like this. He had to realise that the reason she was probably so happy was because he was here, because he had visited.

His mother opened the door of his room with a slight flourish, gesturing him in with the large grin still on her face. He smiled back at her, a little concerned at how enthusiastic she was being. He stepped in anyway and his eyes took in the interior.

It was brighter than it ever had been when he had lived in it permanently. The soft blue that he had chosen had replaced the green and the dark mahogany wood had been changed to pine. His bed now sat against the wall in front of him, dressed in white sheets with a blue bed spread and blue curtains around it, all the same blue he had picked out from the beginning. His wardrobe had switched to the wall that his bed had once sat against and the chairs still sat at his window, that were adorned with new blue curtains.

"It looks…wonderful," he said once he had taken it all in. Of course he was unused to the change but he liked it, it suited the room much better than it had before.

"Doesn't it just? Horatio is brilliant with placement, really knows how to open up a room. I'm going to get him to work on my room next. I'm hoping to do the whole house," his mother said, stepping in and perching on the end of his bed.

"The whole house?" Draco asked.

"Yes. It's long over due. Your father and I talked about it some years ago, just never got around to it," she said, her voice dropping slightly at the end along with her smile, she looked towards the window, a habit she had whenever she thought or talked about Lucius. She was quick to snap her attention back to Draco though and she stood again.

"Actually I just remembered, there's a ball being held by the Ministry in a couple of weeks. We've been invited. It would show good grace if you were to go too," she said.

"Of course," Draco said with a nod. Even though he hated the formal ball's that he had been dragged to since he was a kid, especially the political ones, but he knew how important they are to his mother, especially now.

"You can take someone if you want, anyone you want," she said.

"You can be my plus one, there's no one else I'd rather take," he said, that neglectful guilt niggling at him again, wanting to make up for it a bit more.

"Well that's very nice Draco, but it would be a waste considering I'm already going," she said.

"Who are you going to take then?"

"No one expects me to turn up with anyone. You on the other hand…" She said and shrugged. Draco sighed and straightened up.

"Okay, I'm sure I'll be able to find someone. Should we go and have some tea?" He asked, preferably getting away from the subject and the inevitable conversation that would include the words 'When are you going to settle down Draco?' Thankfully his mother took the bait and they agreed to go down to the summer room to have some tea and lunch as it was nearing midday.

* * *

><p>Harry turned on the spot to try and get his bearings, squinting over the small hill, recognising the house he was hoping for. He shrugged, his apparation having been a little off, as he could have gotten closer to the house had he been focusing properly. His mind was back at Luna's, which he had just left, where the woman herself had just announced her engagement. Christopher, a wizard from America was her boyfriend <em>fiancé<em>. He didn't know the guy very well but they had been together since the end of school and Harry couldn't see a much better pairing than those two. He kept her grounded and even though she was very much still as gentle and floaty as she ever had been, when they were together, she was much easier to understand and keep up with.

He did feel a little uncertain though. Not about their engagement, but about his own personal life. Ron and Hermione were engaged too, planning a wedding, Ginny was in a very serious relationship with a fellow Quidditch player and even Neville was on the tracks to settling down with his current girlfriend. And then there was Harry, still sleeping around, unable to commit to even sharing a meal never mind moving in or sharing a life.

While pondering his own future he had made it over the hill and to the crooked Weasley house. He knocked on the door but walked straight in, knowing he was welcome to do so. He took in the familiar and comforting sights, sounds and smells, including some sort of baking, the smell was familiar but he wasn't certain about what it was yet.

"Molly?" he called out, stooping down to peer in the oven to try and see what was cooking, to no avail.

"Harry dear!" Molly said as she appeared at the kitchen door, grinning and coming towards him, arms outstretched. "What a wonderful surprise,"

"You make it sound as if you never see me," Harry said hugging her back, almost as tightly as she was doing so to him.

"Well, you haven't been to the past two family meals," she said matter of fact-ly, letting him go and pulling a chair out at the table for him. He sat down as she put the kettle on the stove and checked on what she was baking.

"I know, sorry. It's just with Draco moving in and everything, and then last Sunday…well I suspect you've been told about that," Harry said.

Molly looked at him with a small smile, "Hermione might have mentioned something about it," she said.

"Yes. Well," Harry said looking down at his hands that he had folded on the table, really not wishing to talk about it just now.

"You must have some kind of seer blood in you Harry, as I've been baking your favourites," she said, moving on, which Harry was very thankful for. She was good at that. She was good at sensing when he didn't want to talk about things. Of course she had a way of getting him to talk about it anyway most of the time but it was _mostly_ on his terms.

"Peanut butter brownies?" he asked, his head shooting up as she pulled out the said brownies from the oven.

"Of course. We'll have to wait for them to cool, but that shouldn't take too long," she said, piling the brownies onto a plate and placing them in the middle of the table. She made them a cup of tea each and sat down across from Harry.

"Thanks," he said taking the mug of tea and eyeing the brownies.

"So what do I owe the pleasure of a visit on a Tuesday morning? Shouldn't you be at work?" she asked.

"I worked really late last night so I don't need to go in until like One o'clock or something, whenever I want really," Harry shrugged and sipped his tea. "Can I have one yet?" he asked, referring to the brownies.

"Give them time," Molly said with a grin and Harry pouted.

"That's just torture putting them right in front of me though," Harry tried to reason. Molly rolled her eyes but just sipped from her tea with a small shake of her head.

"What's it like living with Mr Malfoy then?" she asked putting her mug down and leaning forward as she started fishing for the something that was bothering him, for she knew there was a reason as to why he looked like someone had just insulted his hippogriff.

Harry shrugged again and kept his eyes on the brownies as he spoke. "Not as bad as it could have been. He's actually quite pleasant most of the time. I don't think we've even shouted at each other yet," he said.

"Well that's good. At least you know you made the right decision then," she said.

"Yeah. I guess I did. I didn't think about it like that really," Harry said.

"There you go," she said proudly. "I knew you'd be able to handle it Harry, you've matured a lot, I assume he has too. You're not young school boys fighting against each other anymore,"

"Yeah. It sometimes gets weird and awkward though, when something from the war comes up. It's only happened a couple of times but it just makes things really strange, it makes me have to double think anything I'm going to say," Harry explained.

"Sometimes that's for the better though. It wont always be like that. You'll get to the stage where you'll be able to even talk about it maybe," Molly said. She plucked a brownie from the pile and placed it in front of him and his face lit up with a smile.

"Yeah, when Pygmy Puffs can fly," he said, but with a little less conviction considering the grin on his face.

"You never know," she shrugged and sipped her tea, peering over the rim as Harry dissected his brownie, savouring each bit. She knew for sure that there was something not right about him today and it was frustrating the hell out of her not knowing what it was.

"So, what are your plans for the rest of your free morning?" Molly asked.

"Not a lot. I went and visited Luna before I came here," Harry said around a mouthful of brownie.

"Yeah? How is Luna?" Molly asked, her eyes narrowing as she felt herself getting closer to what was going on. She had some kind of sixth sense about these kinds of things. It was a mothering thing, she was sure.

"Fine, fine. She's engaged," Harry said, stuffing the remainder of his brownie in his mouth and reaching for another one. Molly straightened up, bingo, she'd found what was bothering him, now she just had to find out why, and try and fix it.

"Wow, that's wonderful. I'll have to send a card," she said enthusiastically.

"I don't know if I was supposed to tell anyone yet. She said they're putting it in the prophet later this week 'cause there is some family that don't know yet, probably best to save the card until then," Harry said.

"Good thinking," Molly said. Harry nodded and said nothing more, just looked miserably down at his brownie as he picked it apart and sipped tea. "You don't seem that excited," she commented.

Harry looked up at her and sighed. He couldn't not open up when she was looking at him like that. He found the words falling from his mouth before he could help himself and he wondered whether she had added some veritiserum into his tea, or maybe even the brownies, he noticed she hadn't touched them herself.

"It's not that I'm not happy for her, I am, it's wonderful that she's happy. It's wonderful that everyone is happy. Everyone is going off and getting engaged and married and moving in and getting serious. Everyone is so, so happy with each other. Everyone but me,"

"Oh Harry," Molly said, reaching over and clasping his hand. "You'll find someone honey. You just need to wait for them to come along, that's all. And someone like you, it wont take long, just appreciate everything else in the meantime,"

"Like what?"

"Like your career, your friends, being young and not having people depend on you. When you're in a relationship that all changes, you have to make sacrifices,"

"But I'm starting to wonder if maybe it's me that is the problem. I can't even commit to taking someone to dinner, never mind committing to marriage or even a relationship, what's wrong with me?" Harry said, everything that Hermione had wanted him to say on Sunday now coming so easily to him now that he wasn't being pressured and was in the presence of Molly instead. At least he knew she would listen and tell him the truth and not just what he wanted to hear, maybe that's why it was easier to speak to her. Or maybe it was the warm gooey brownies that were making him feel warm and gooey inside too.

"Don't be silly, there's nothing wrong with you Harry, it's natural. You've focused more on your career the past couple of years you just need to get used to being in it for the long run, not for just getting by. Do you understand what I'm saying?" Molly said seriously.

"That I need to stop just sleeping with people and start relationships from scratch?" Harry asked, cringing a little, finding it a little hard to believe he was actually talking about this with Molly.

"Yes, that. But you also need to just take your time. It's not going to happen all at once, and you need to stop expecting it to. It sometimes takes time to start liking someone," she said. Harry nodded, absorbing everything she was telling him. He was very glad he had taken the time to visit her and not just go home after Luna's. He was already starting to feel better. He was sure it was partly because of the brownies but he knew it was mostly because of Molly.

"I suppose that makes sense," he shrugged and then looked up at her with a smile. She squeezed his hand before letting go, sighing as she stood up from the table.

"Everything will fall in to place Harry, you just need to wait a little longer than everyone else, that's all," she said.

Harry nodded and watched for a moment while she started to clean up the mess from her baking. Harry stood to help and asked about her, realising how selfish he had been from the moment he came in. He really appreciated Molly and everything she did for him. He wished he could show her how much sometimes as no matter what he did it never felt like enough.

* * *

><p>"Afternoon Nat," Harry said gently as he walked past on his way into his office.<p>

"Harry! Thank Merlin your in," Natasha said, looking up from her desk and diving after him into his office as he hung up his cloak.

"Why, what's happened? I thought you were supposed to contact me if there were any emergencies," Harry said, his hands lingering on his cloak in case he had to grab it again.

"No, no, nothing has happened, it's just I've been visited three times by Hermione already this morning, looking for you. She was starting to do my head in," Natasha said, settling herself down at his desk.

"Oh. Yeah. She tends to do that to people," he said, moving around his desk and sitting in his chair, sighing at the amount still left in his 'in tray' "What does she want?" he asked, a little scared to. He still hadn't talked to her since Sunday and he couldn't tell if that would make her more pissed at him or allow her time to calm down.

"Merlin knows, wouldn't tell me. She didn't half stick around every time though, waiting for you then getting fed up when I'd just ignore her and get on with my work before storming out again. Quite sensitive lately isn't she?" Natasha said making a face.

"Yeah, a little," Harry said sarcastically, looking up at her. "I guess I better let her know I'm in," he sighed reaching for quill and parchment.

"Wouldn't waste your parchment, she said she'd be back again in an hour and that was forty-five minutes ago,"

"Great. All right," Harry nodded, rubbing his face, his good mood from a stomach full of brownies and not to mention the bundle of them he got to take home too, well and truly disappeared. "Was there any messages or anything left apart from that?"

"Nope, just what's in your tray. I contacted the head Auror of Geneva, like you asked, about that Death Eater but haven't heard anything back yet." she told him, making herself comfy by propping her feet up on his desk. It was a common occurrence so Harry didn't say anything, barely even noticed it to be honest.

"Okay. If we don't hear anything back by tomorrow morning then remind me to get Fitzgerald and Yates to head over there. It could be the case that he's been put under the Imperius curse," Harry said, jotting down a note to himself just in case Natasha forgot too. He was probably more likely to misplace the note than for Natasha to forget.

"Okay," Natasha said.

"Anything else?" he asked.

"Don't think so." she said with a shrug. Harry raised his eyebrows at her and she blinked at him a couple of times before getting the picture, dropping her feet and leaving. "Oh alright then, but once Hermione's done talking to you, we need to chat,"

"What? Why? What about?" He called after her.

"Just stuff," she called from her desk. He sighed, rolled his eyes and reached for the top file of his workload. He was beginning to regret taking the morning off, he knew he'd be taking half of this home with him tonight, especially if Hermione and Natasha insisted on talking to him for hours.

In only a matter of minutes he was interrupted by the sound of Hermione knocking on his door and stepping right in without having to be asked. Harry made sure to try and keep his train of thought as he finished the sentence he was on before she started talking.

"Hey Hermione," he said once he was finished, putting his quill down and leaning back in his chair as Hermione hovered at the door.

"Hey Harry," she said softly and crossed to room to sit opposite him.

"What's up?" he asked, genuinely hoping that she wasn't about to bring up the weekend. It was Tuesday, it was about time they forgot about last weekend and moved on.

"I haven't seen you since Sunday, I wanted to make sure you were alright," Hermione said.

"Of course I'm alright, what makes you think I wouldn't be?" Harry said innocently.

"Well…I received a rather worried late night floo call last night, that's why," Hermione said. Harry frowned, wondering why that had anything to do with him, not recalling making _any_ floo calls yesterday never mind one to Hermione.

"Okay…"

"From Draco Malfoy," Hermione added and Harry's face crumpled even further into a frown. That was the last person he expected to give Hermione a floo call, never mind one in the middle of the night.

"Right. Why?" he asked.

"He wanted to know how to get hold of you while you were at work. He told me you weren't home yet and he seemed genuinely worried about you," Hermione explained.

"He mentioned something about going to you for my floo password in case of an emergency but he didn't say what time he did so," Harry frowned. "Do you think he was waiting up for me to come home?"

Hermione snorted and shook her head. "Harry, I know that's exactly what he was doing. He was worried about you, whether he wants to admit that or not is another story however, he certainly tried to make it look like that wasn't the case."

"But why would he be worried about me?" Harry asked.

"I don't know, maybe he's starting to think of you as more of a friend than just someone he lives with. You'd have to talk to him about it not me," Hermione said with a shrug, as if she wasn't interested in why Draco was worried about Harry, when she really was, she was as curious as he was. Draco's behaviour intrigued her.

"As a friend? No. No. It's only been a week since he moved in, we barely speak never mind do anything friendly," Harry said.

"You've taught him how to cook. You learnt a lot about each other on Saturday night. I'd say that was friendly," Hermione said with a small smile. She liked the idea of Harry and Draco being friends, it gave her faith in the fact that Draco had really changed and wasn't about to turn around and do something typically Malfoy like he would have done years ago. She had a feeling about that, just an instinct not to trust him fully. If they became friends though, then that would all change.

"We've also fallen out and find it awkward to talk to each other half the time. Not to mention having to double think everything we do eventually talk about in case we offend each other. That's not a friendship," Harry said shaking his head in the hopes of making it true. He couldn't be friends with Draco, he just couldn't, it's too strange.

"What do you call that then? Hmm?" Hermione asked. She sat forward in her seat and tilted her head slightly and talked gently. "We fall out sometimes, friends do that. There are some things we can't talk about, that's a friendship Harry,"

Harry stared at her for a moment, she was being completely honest and serious about this. He knew that sunday was prominently in her mind, as it was his too, and she wasn't just talking about Draco anymore. "I understand that Hermione. That's a type of friendship yes, I'm just not ready for Malfoy and I to have a friendship. It's too weird,"

Hermione shrugged. "That's okay. But Harry you better start being prepared because this is the way your relationship is going, give it time," she said.

Harry nodded and they continued to look at each other for a moment longer. Harry was first to break their gaze and look down at his hands, clasped in front of him, rested on his desk. "I'm sorry about Sunday," he mumbled but knew she heard him.

She sighed and stood, perching on the edge of his desk, forcing him to look at her again. "That's alright. I'm sorry for pushing so hard. I need to respect your decisions. It's your life,"

"Thanks," Harry smiled. Hermione rolled her eyes, standing again and moving around his desk.

"Oh, come here," she said and hugged him from where he sat. Harry laughed and hugged her back, everything slotting back into place and feeling less awkward again, thank goodness. "I promise I won't do it again,"

"Yeah, right," Harry said sarcastically over her shoulder. Hermione smacked him on the back of his head and he knew everything was going to be fine between them like it always was.

Hermione left only minutes after they officially made up, needing to get back to work and knowing Harry had a pile of his own to catch up with. Once again he found himself staring down at the first file he'd managed to get to, re-reading what he had already wrote when he was once again interrupted, this time by Natasha.

"She left happier than she came in," Natasha said, walking into his office without knocking and flopping into the chair opposite Harry.

"Yeah. We'd kind of fallen out but we're good now," Harry said absently, trying to ignore her and just get on with it. He'd be stuck here until all hours of the morning again at this rate.

"Good for you," Natasha said and started tapping her fingers on the arm of her chair to a random beat.

"Uh hu. Look Nat, can we talk later? I'm kind of really busy," he said, looking up from the file with a bit of his pleading face going on.

"Hmm, nope," Natasha said with a shrug and a big smile. Harry sighed, giving up, dropping his quill and leaning back in his chair, hands behind his head. "I want to know how your little arrangement is going with Mr Malfoy, has there been anymore fighting?"

"No and it's going just fine. Satisfied?" He asked, still trying to get it done as quickly as possible. Going by the look Natasha gave him, he was going to be here a long time.

"No way. Tell me everything. What do you do together? Does he have any habits?" Natasha asked.

"Why are you so interested in him?" Harry asked narrowing his eyes.

"I'm not. I…uhm I just want to make sure you're happy with the choice I gave you," Natasha said unconvincingly.

"Biggest load of bull shit if I ever heard it," Harry said with a grin as he figured out what was going on when Natasha blushed and looked downwards to the floor. "You fancy him,"

"What? No. I don't," Natasha said suddenly becoming very quiet and shy and refusing to look at him.

"Liar. I hate to break your heart Nat but he's gay," Harry said as gently as he could. She looked back at him at last and tried to figure out if he was being honest or not.

"Damn. Why are all the good ones gay or taken?" she said, finally giving up the pretence and resting her chin in her hand looking miserable. Harry almost laughed at what she had said but managed to stop himself when he saw how miserable she looked.

"I don't know Nat but hey, I'm sure you'll find someone soon," He said, trying to cheer her up with the cheesy typical line. It seemed to do the trick a little though.

"Wish he'd hurry up," she said.

"You and me both," Harry said and they grinned at each other. They sat in silence for a moment while Natasha thought about something, squinting at him slightly as she did so.

"Hey, why don't we go out on Friday after work? Go to a couple of pubs, and some clubs, see if we can meet anyone, and if we don't then we can just have a good time trying," Natasha suggested. Harry smiled, barely even having to think about it before he knew they answer.

"I think that would be a great idea Nat," he said and her face lit up and her chin finally left her hand.

"Great. Meet at the Red Lion at about eight?" she said.

"Sounds like a plan," he grinned. Natasha smiled and stood up.

"It's going to be great Harry, can't wait," she said before she almost skipped out of the room. Harry shook his head at her enthusiasm and took a moment before he remembered how much work he had to do and how little time he had to do it. He settled back down, thankful that he had no planned interruptions from anyone to look forward to now and could get on with it.

* * *

><p>Harry sighed as he stepped into the kitchen from the fireplace, dumping the huge stack of files he had brought with him on the kitchen table. The house was relatively quiet but he knew Draco was home because the coffee pot was still warm. He fell into a chair and rubbed his eyes. The last thing he wanted to do was cook a meal but it didn't look like Draco was about to start cooking anything tonight.<p>

He sighed and was working up the energy to stand again and get on with it when Draco stomped down the stairs and into the kitchen. He had his mug in hand and looked quite happy. Harry resented him for that.

"Hey, thought I heard you coming in," he said to Harry.

"Yeah," Harry nodded.

"Whoa, you gotta get through all of them tonight?" Draco asked, pointing to the files on the table as he refilled his cup with coffee.

"Ugh, don't remind me," Harry said, folding his arms on the table and then thumping his head on top of them.

"Bad day?" Draco asked and Harry realised how annoying his chirpiness was.

"No kidding," he said, his voice muffled against the table.

"Must be hard sitting in a nice warm comfortable office all day," Draco said his voice laced with light hearted teasing and sarcasm. Harry lifted his head and looked at Draco leaning against the counter smirking.

"You seriously think that's all I do? You think what I do is easy?" Harry said, taking everything a little bit out of context, taking Draco too seriously.

"Oh, no of course not. It must be so challenging to put all those big complicated words together into a sentence. Oh and making paragraphs must be a killer!" Draco said with a grin, sipping his coffee. He was just teasing, actually attempting to lighten Harry's mood in his own little way. Unfortunately Harry wasn't catching onto that and it was actually making matters worse. If he hadn't been in such a mood to begin with things might have gone a bit better.

"Oh yeah? I'd like to see you bloody try doing my job! I'm willing to bet it's more complicated and stressful than whacking some ingredients into a pot and stirring it a certain way!" Harry said, his voice raising a decibel or two.

Draco narrowed his eyes dangerously, realising that Harry was not taking this as a joke. Never one to back down from confrontation though, Draco couldn't just explain he was joking and move on. "Really? Well you seemed to find it difficult enough in school! A flubberworm could do your job! Oh wait, one already does, I almost forgot they let Weasley in!"

"Shut up Malfoy, just…shut up!" Harry said, standing suddenly, his chair almost tipping over as the kitchen cupboards started to rattle as he started to loose control of his magic, something that happened very rarely these days.

"Oh very eloquent Potter, I do hope you are more articulate in your reports!"

"You're a fucking dick Malfoy, I can't believe I was starting to think you had properly changed," Harry said and promptly stormed out of the room and up the stairs.

It wasn't until he had gotten to his room and slammed the door behind him that he realised how fucking stupid he was being. He was taking out his stress full day and bad temper out on Draco and it wasn't fair. Draco was just being sociable in his own little way. Harry was an arse. he collapsed on top of his bed in a cloud of guilt and draped his arm over his eyes, feeling like he probably deserved the pain of his glasses digging into his face.

It took him ten minutes to pull himself together and realise that they only thing he could do now was go back down there and apologise for his behaviour. Even though he felt as if his pride was taking a huge knock he knew that keeping things civil between he and Draco was much more important. He got back up from his bed and left his room again, slouching off sheepishly back down stairs. He half hoped that Draco had retreated to his own room but no such luck, as he saw when he entered the kitchen and Draco was now sat at the table.

He looked up when Harry entered, his face blank and expressionless, Harry knew not to smile at him so just bentley took a seat across from him instead. They sat and stared at each other silently for a moment before Harry finally pulled up enough courage to finally speak.

"Draco, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have shouted at you like that. I was taking out my bad temper on you and it wasn't fair. I'm sorry," Harry said. Draco continued to stare at him for a short time after Harry had finished as if waiting for more. He eventually blinked once and tilted his head ever so slightly to the right, squinting at Harry as if deciding whether he was being serious.

"What do you want me to say Potter?" Draco finally asked and Harry bit down on his lip as he wondered about that question.

"That you understand what it's like to have a stressful day and that you forgive me?" he said and even he knew he was pushing it before he saw the look on Draco's face.

"You went mental at me for pretty much no reason. I was trying to cheer you up and you ended up shouting at me," Draco said.

"I know. I'm sorry I just wasn't in the right mindset to understand that at the time. It felt like you were attacking me further and it pushed me to fight back. Please? I didn't mean it," Harry said.

Draco narrowed his eyes and looked down at the table. "Well. I guess I didn't have to argue back when I realised you were getting angry. I didn't help matters," he said.

"I still started it though. I'm mostly to blame,"

"I guess it was overdue. We haven't argued in what? A week?" Draco said looking back up at Harry.

Harry smiled. "At least,"

"Maybe that's just what we need once in a while, to shout at each other a little bit," Draco said.

"Or we could just talk about what is bothering us when it bothers us, rather than just blowing up at each other unexpectedly and saying stupid stuff and throwing petty insults," Harry suggested with a shrug.

Draco rolled his eyes, "What, are you a Hufflepuff now? Let's talk about our feelings, seriously Potter?"

"It might help," Harry said quietly, embarrassed now.

"Whatever, you won't catch me doing it," Draco said.

"Are we just moving on then? Fight forgotten about?" Harry asked and Draco nodded, smiling at him slightly. "Okay, well I can't be arsed cooking dinner, wanna get a take away?"

"Take away?" Draco questioned with a frown.

"Yeah, like the Pizza you got on Sunday, it's what muggles call it. We could get Chinese or Indian, whatever," Harry explained. Draco was still frowning at Harry and also looking a little concerned, about what, Harry wasn't sure though.

"So a chinese person comes in and cooks for us?" Draco asked and Harry burst out laughing.

"No! We order chinese food from a chinese restaurant and they deliver it to the house," Harry said, trying not to get too carried away with his laughing as Draco looked a little hurt and was eager enough to find out what exactly Harry was talking about.

"Chinese food?" Draco asked quietly, afraid to ask in case he was laughed at again. Harry didn't laugh this time, just looked a little shocked.

"Oh Draco. You have lived a very sheltered life. Don't worry, I'll handle dinner," Harry said shaking his head and standing from the table, reaching for the telephone and the chinese menu stuck to the noticeboard he had hung above the fireplace.

"What if I don't like it?" Draco asked.

"Don't worry, there will be something you like," Harry said with an absent wave of his hand. He was just about to start dialling the number when an empty tupperware box caught his eye and he stopped. "What happened to the brownie's that were in that box?" he asked, turning to Draco whom was biting down on his bottom lip.

"Wha-what brownie's?" he said unconvincingly.

"The peanut butter brownies that I had brought back from Molly's that had a 'Do not touch' post it stuck to the lid?"

"Oh, umm, I dunno. Maybe your owl ate them," Draco said with a shrug, Nicholas, Harry's owl having caught his eye as he landed on the window sill and peered into the kitchen.

"Oh so Nicholas managed to get in through the shut window, get the lid off of the box, eat all the brownie's, put the lid back on the box, fly out and shut the window again behind him?" Harry explained.

"Smart bird," Draco said. Harry put a hand on his hip and looked at Draco with his eyebrows raised. Draco soon gave in. "Alright, I ate them. I'm sorry but if you put a note on something saying don't touch, the first thing I want to do is touch, and once I had one, I couldn't stop, they're just so good,"

"I know! That's why I had brought some home!" Harry said, his voice rising again.

"Sorry," Draco said quietly. Harry sighed, remembering just minutes ago and not wanting to go down that route again.

"It's alright. You probably did me a favour anyway. I get some every time I visit Molly so it's not the end of the world," Harry said, trying to justify it.

"They're really good, why can't you just make them?" Draco asked partly because he wanted more, like a never ending supply, and partly because he felt guilty about eating them all.

"She won't give me the recipe, and even though I've tried they never turn out right," Harry explained, calming down enough again to order some dinner. He ordered the popular chinese dishes and some obscure ones that he enjoyed, he ordered enough for about ten people but he wanted to make sure there would be something Draco liked, then they just had to wait for it to arrive.

Draco tried pretty much a bit of everything that Harry had ordered and enjoyed it all. There was still plenty left but Harry put it in the pantry for it to keep for the next day. They didn't talk too much during dinner but they didn't fight any more either. They were getting there, slowly but still getting there none the less.


	6. Chapter 6

I'm very sorry this has taken as long as it has. I really should set up a schedule to post once a week, or once every two weeks or something. Would you prefer quicker but shorter updates, or longer updates just sporadically? I'll try and set aside my Wednesdays for writing again and see if I can get an update out every monday or every second monday or something?

This wasn't particularly challenging to write it was just a matter of finding the time to do it, but I've been on half holidays for two weeks so it's given me time to get cracking for it. I actually enjoyed this chapter once I got into it. I think I'm going to enjoy the next one even more. Hopefully. This one was much shorter than some so maybe that would be for the best.

Watch out in this one because a couple of times I caught myself slipping to and from tenses. I think I got them all but a couple might have slipped through.

Which is why I'd also like to ask, would anyone be interested in being my Beta? I've never had a beta before so it would be a new experience for me and if someone that would be willing to be mine would like to explain the process that'd be awesome too.

Anyway enjoy, and if you haven't already I think the one shot I did called His Own Worst Enemy is worth a peek at? Maybe? Cheers!

* * *

><p>Part 6.<p>

"Oh, I meant to tell you the other day, I won't be home tonight," Harry told Draco at the breakfast table on friday morning. Once again, the plans he had made for the weekend during the week having left his mind at some point and he had almost forgot to tell Draco again, he had only remembered because he had packed a bag with clothes to change into at work to head straight out. He and Natasha had agreed to have dinner before making their rounds of the pubs.

"Okay," Draco said not looking up from reading the paper. Harry waited but Draco didn't ask why. He went back to his porridge, glancing at his watch to make sure he wasn't going to be late. He could still spare a quick five minutes.

"I trust that you won't burn the house down then?" Harry said, lifting his bowl and spooning the last of his porridge from the bottom from it.

Draco looked up and blinked at him twice and then looked around the kitchen. "Why would I burn the house down?" he asked.

"Well I'm not going to be home to make dinner so you'll have to make it yourself. I'm just making sure you'll be okay with that," Harry explained.

"Why aren't you going to be home to make dinner?" Draco asked. Harry shook his head wondering if Draco paid attention to anything he told him.

"I'm going out tonight with Natasha from work. Probably won't be home until the early hours of the morning," Harry said.

"Oh. Okay," Draco said nodding and staring at the table, clearly thinking. Harry raised his eyebrows and took his bowl to the sink.

"Do you want me to leave out instructions on how to make anything?" he asked, knowing that Draco wasn't quite confident with his cooking skills yet and certainly not when Harry wasn't around.

"No, no. It's okay I'll order one of those- umm what do you call it- take away things, one of those," Draco explained and grinned at Harry.

"Again, Draco? You just had take away on Tuesday, not to mention the left overs I know you took to work with you on Wednesday," Harry said.

"So? It's good," Draco said with a shrug.

"So, it's unhealthy, all that fast food. We had Pizza on Sunday too, that's like four times in a week! You'll start to put on weight," Harry warned, picking up his briefcase and pulling his cloak over his shoulders.

"Don't be ridiculous, Malfoy's are naturally skinny, no matter what I eat I don't put on weight," Draco dismissed.

Harry rolled his eyes. "Yeah whatever, don't come to me when you can't fit into your favourite pair of trousers. Menu's and numbers are up on the board. I'll probably see you tomorrow afternoon, you're working in the morning right?"

"Yeah," Draco nodded and shuffled his paper. Harry had just taken a pinch of floo powder when Draco looked back up with a sudden thought. "Hey, since you're going to be out, is it okay if I invite Blaise and Pansy over?"

Harry paused in throwing his powder in and looked into the flames contemplating this. He was rather unsettled by the thought of three Slytherins poking around his house, okay his and Draco's house. He trusted Draco to an extent but he wasn't sure he trusted the other two. He couldn't say no though, it was as much Draco's house as it was his now and he'd be a bit of a hypocrite to tell him no when Ron and Hermione are over quite often.

"Sure, I don't mind, you don't have to ask you know," Harry lied with a little smile thrown over his shoulder.

"Just thought I'd make sure," Draco said. Harry nodded and threw his floo powder into the flames making them glow green.

"See you later," Harry said and stepped into the fire and was away before he could get more than a smile in response.

* * *

><p>"I really don't think this is a very good idea," Draco said quietly as Blaise and Pansy worked on detecting the spells cast on Potter's bedroom door. They had barely arrived at the house, couldn't have been there for more than five minutes, before they both insisted on breaking into Potter's room to look for any documents to do with the ownership of the Black's family belongings, including of course the house. Draco wasn't so sure, he didn't like the idea of Potter some how finding out that they had been in his room. He had quite a bit of respect for him even if he was planning on taking his house from him.<p>

"All I can detect is a couple of simple locking charms," Pansy said and there was a slight hint of surprise in her voice, clearly she thought it would be harder than it was, Draco had thought so too, thought that Potter hadn't trusted him this much, that he would be smarter than that.

"We're in," Blaise said as the door swung open with a slight creek and he and Pansy stood up straight. They stepped inside, Pansy and Blaise looking around them at the unfamiliar surroundings. It looked the same as the last and only time that Draco was in Potter's room when they had shared the pizza on Potter's bed, a little bit like organised chaos.

"Don't suppose a simple summoning charm will work?" Draco asked.

"Accio Sirius' will," Blaise muttered with a flick of his wand. Nothing happened.

"Can't say I expected anything else to be quite honest," Pansy said with a shrug and stepped further into the room, crossing it to the wardrobe to start searching through it. Blaise crossed over to the bed, pulling back the covers and sheets. Draco frowned, he had no idea what he was hoping to find under there but he was pretty sure Potter would be hiding any important documents _in_ his bed.

Draco sighed and moved over to the desk gently shifting around papers, mostly work related stuff he assumed, seeing a lot of long paragraphs and mentions of known Death Eaters. He tried to make sure everything was in the same place that he found it in, and there was no sign of anything house or belongings related. He started opening drawers on the right hand side of the desk, finding an assortment of quills, inkwells, parchment and the like, even some muggle stationary that made Draco a little curious about them. He moved on however and found the bottom drawer locked. He looked around at Blaise and Pansy both busy searching their own areas, the bed just about completely stripped and almost all of Potter's clothes in a heap on the floor. They clearly weren't quite as concerned about Potter not realising that they had been in there.

He looked back and silently unlocked it with his wand, swiftly pulling it open. There, lying at the bottom was a beige folder with 'Sirius' scrawled over the cover. He flipped it open and found exactly what he was looking for, the will, the deeds to the house all in black and white. He dropped the folder back into the drawer and locked it again, straightening up.

"I don't think there's anything here," Draco said, turning to face them. Pansy straightened up and Blaise popped his head out from a sheet he had been searching and they looked at each other and Draco detected a hint of knowing in their look.

"Since when did you shy away from something like this? This is what you want isn't it?" Blaise asked.

"Of course it is, I just don't believe that it's actually here, not in this room, it could be somewhere else in the house but I can search the rest in my own time, I just don't feel right about being in here, If Potter finds out it could ruin everything, the whole plan," Draco said.

Blaise and Pansy looked at each other again and Draco had the distinct feeling that there was something that he was missing. They were having a silent conversation that he wasn't part of, he had no idea how annoying it was to be on the outside of something like that until he was.

"Alright, I guess you have a point," Pansy said with a sigh and she sent the pile of clothes in the middle of the floor back into the wardrobe neatly, Draco just hoped that it was the same way she found it. Blaise remade the bed with a flick of his wand and the room was back to the way it was when they entered or at least Draco hoped it was.

"Shall we go down and have a drink, like we planned in the first place?" Draco asked as they stood in the middle of the room looking around it, trying to notice any differences. They should have paid more attention when they first came in instead of just diving straight into making a mess.

"Good idea," Blaise said happily and left the room. Pansy grinned at Draco before following Blaise out and calling over her shoulder. "We'll be in the drawing room, you get the drink,"

Draco sighed but did as he was told, leaving the room and locking it with the same charms they broke on the way in and went back down to the kitchen to get the alcohol. He knew his friends would want something a bit stronger than what Potter had in the pantry and so went straight for the fire whiskey he'd bought on the way home from work earlier. He, Blaise and Pansy could hold their liqueur, much better than Potter and his friends. He knew it was going to be a good night.

* * *

><p>"I can't even remember the last time I went on a date," Draco casually as he bent to scoop up a handful of crisps that he had found in the pantry. He had never tried crisps before tonight but he had to serve something to soak up the alcohol and he discovered they were ridiculously addictive.<p>

"Oooh!" Pansy sat up suddenly, her eyes bright and scheming. "I know this gorgeous guy from work that would be interested!"

"No. No, no, no. Last time you set me up with someone they ended up being into some freaky shit," Draco said. Blaise snorted into his glass and then resumed staring moodily out of the window from where he sat on the window sill. Blaise could be quite a reflective, moody drunk sometimes, and this just happened to be one of those times.

"No, this guy is different. Way different, he's really nice and did I mention how gorgeous he is?" Pansy said. She carried on describing this guy, trying to feel him to Draco but Draco barely heard her, he had heard a noise from down stairs, a clatter and some giggling to be more specific, and had focused on it, to try and determine whether he was hearing things or not. Another rather loud crash and even louder screeching from Mrs Black's painting.

Pansy stopped talking at Draco and even Blaise stopped brooding for a moment to look around with a frown to try and figure out where the noise was coming from. Draco stood up from his chair and crossed the room and opened the door just a crack, enough to peer out of it and hear Mrs Black's screams a little louder.

"Is that Potter?" Pansy hissed as she staggered her way over to him, to peek out too. There was a lot of hushing and giggling and eventually Mrs Black stopped screaming enough for Draco to figure out that there was more than just Potter on his way up the stairs.

"Has he brought someone home?" Blaise hissed from directly behind Draco, which had initially made his jump a little. The three of them peered out the small crack of the door and listened to Potter hush and giggle and the other person hush and giggle back. From their position at the door, they couldn't really see Potter or his companion as they made their way up to Potter's room. They moved too fast for any of them to take in the other person's face and all Draco could realise was that it was another guy and certainly not Potter's assistant like Draco thought it might be.

They didn't however move quite fast enough for Draco to miss the quick peck of lips and slight grope on their way up the staircase though. Pansy or Blaise didn't miss it either. Pansy gripped tightly onto Draco's forearm and dug her nails in.

Once Potter and his friend were out of sight and finally quiet the three friends stepped away from the door and filtered back into the room. Pansy was grinning while Blaise went back to the windowsill looking even more downtrodden than before.

"Potter's gay?" Pansy almost shouted and Draco had to shush her before she started to become hysterical.

"Shhh, he clearly thinks I'm asleep,"

"Draco do you even realise how valuable this information is?" Pansy said.

"I-I don't think I understand-" Draco said frowning and glancing across at Blaise whom was still staring out of the window.

"The press! They must not know about this, I would have remembered if I'd read this one and everyone would be talking about it. Oh! I can see the headline now, 'The boy who lived-'"

"No Pans we can't it's- it's a total invasion of his privacy," Draco insisted and then frowned hoping that Pansy wouldn't ask too many questions.

"Oh come on! Since when did you give a damn about Potter's privacy? Weren't you the one that sold all those stories of Potter in fifth year?" Pansy said, her voice getting louder the more uptight she got.

"Well things change!" Draco said, the volume of his voice matching Pansy's before he realised and lowered it again. "People change and damn it, I've changed since fifth year,"

Blaise scoffed by the window and turned to look at Draco, unconvinced. "If anyone's not changed since fifth year it's you Draco,"

"Exactly, plus I thought you hated Potter, I thought you hated living with him!" Pansy said.

"I do," Draco lied and turned towards the fire so that he didn't have to look at them. "I do but I understand what it's like to be outed that way," Draco said and switched the attention to Pansy, whom looked down with guilt.

"This is such a good piece of gossip though, how can I pass this up?" Pansy said anyway, the alcohol and her personality making her not feel all that guilty.

"No Pansy! I forbid you to do this."

"But-"

"Just drop it Pansy, it's Draco's house, Draco's life. Let him forbid you," Blaise said and stood up from the window, stretching his long limbs as he did so.

Pansy huffed, crossing her arms over her chest and turning away from Draco and Blaise ending up staring at a plain wall. Blaise shrugged and stepped closer to the fireplace. "I'm going to head off, I'm tired and I think I've had enough," he told Draco.

"Well if you're leaving then so am I," Pansy said bitterly, still huffing. Draco rolled his eyes and Blaise shrugged sympathetically at him again.

Draco said goodbye to them both, Blaise agreed to come over the next day to discuss what was bothering him all night and Pansy refused to look at him. Draco knew she would apologise the next day so he wasn't that bothered. She would realise she was wrong eventually. They left separately, Pansy first and Draco left their glasses and things where they were before going off to bed. He lay awake for a good few hours faintly hearing Potter and his friends antics. The more he listened the lonelier he felt and he wished they had remembered to cast a silencing charm at least.

* * *

><p>The next morning Draco wasn't surprised when he entered the kitchen and found it empty at six o'clock in the morning. He figured there could be a number of reasons for this. Either Potter was enjoying round two with the mysterious guy from the night before, or he was attempting to get rid of said guest as quickly as possible. Knowing briefly about Potter's reputation and history with one night stands he figured it was more likely the latter, but could just as easily be that they were still asleep, it was still early.<p>

Draco carried on with his normal morning routine trying to ignore the nagging feeling that resides in the back of his head all because he knows that there is a stranger in the house, in his house. He turned on the wireless, having taken a notion to it lately after Potter insisted on listening to a Winkin' Wizard's special a couple of nights ago while he had been cooking dinner, and busies his mind with making pancakes for breakfast, hoping to be able to do so without burning anything and for the first time without Potter's help.

His pancakes turned out a little browner than he would have preferred but there was no smoke or flames involved and so Draco counted it as a success. He made enough for himself and Potter and even a little extra, just in case Potter's company decided to stay and sat down at the table, wireless playing some gentle classical music in the background while he read the newspaper. It would have been a perfectly peaceful morning for him had it not been for that insistent niggle in the back of his head of someone unknown and strange in his house. He would have to bring this up with Potter, he decided after skim reading the Quidditch scores.

Once he finished eating he checked his watch and decided he had better go and open the shop. The idea of leaving someone he didn't know in his house while he wasn't there unsettled him greatly but he reminded himself that Potter was there and it was Potter's house first and for most and surely, he trusted the guy before he thought about bringing him back there, right? Draco tried to convince himself that he felt reassured by this thought but he couldn't be sure.

Draco quickly got showered and dressed and floo'd to work with just minutes to spare. He hoped that nothing of his was missing by the time he got back.

* * *

><p>Harry groaned and buried his face deeper into his pillow, screwing his eyes tight shut so that no light streaming in from the window hurt his head more than it was already, and also so that he didn't have to look at the terrible mistake he had made. He wished very much for his bed to just swallow him up and not spit him out until his mistake was well and truly out of his life again. Why did he keep doing this to himself? Why did people keep letting him do this to himself?<p>

He was just about drifting off back to sleep to try to forget about this, and hope it would go away on it's own, when the bed shifted next to him and he heard the familiar noises of denim on skin and a belt buckle clinking. He groaned again and lifted his heavy head up and blinked around taking in the blurry outline of…of…Lewis? He was sure his name was Lewis.

"Oh, morning," Lewis said when he turned to search for his shirt and noticed that Harry was awake.

"Uhm, morning," Harry said and rubbed his eyes, before jamming his glasses onto his face. He sat up, keeping the covers securely around his chest and prepared to give him the morning after speech that he was so practiced at.

"Look, about last night…" Lewis started and caused Harry to frown. Wait a minute, was he about to get the speech? No that wasn't right, he wasn't supposed to receive it, he was supposed to give it. It was his house and it was his mistake, there for he got to give the morning after speech.

"Yeah it was a mistake," Harry finished, deciding he wasn't going to let this one go so easily.

"Uh, yeah," Lewis said after he had started to button up his shirt. He slipped his feet into his shoes and didn't bother tying the laces before he snatched up his jacket from the floor where it had been immediately discarded the night before. "Look, I'm not going to make this any more awkward than it needs to be, soI'll just be leaving now. It was nice…meeting you," he said.

Harry prickled at being discarded so easily, this was not normally the way that things went. "Yeah, and you," he said and watched from his bed as Lewis floo'd himself from Harry's bedroom with barely a goodbye. Harry flopped back onto the bed and pulled the covers over his head before he can analyse the hell out of what the heck just happened.

* * *

><p>Draco looked up as the bell above the shop door rang and smiled, folding down the page he was on in his book and straightened up. "I wondered when you would turn up," he said flicking his hand to the kettle he had positioned on a wrack over an open flame while Blaise shed his cloak, hanging it over his arm.<p>

"You got coffee?" he asked, without bothering with a polite greeting first, too hungover to care.

"Stupid question," Draco said as he pulled two mugs from under the counter and spooned instant coffee and sugar into each one. "It's just instant but it'll do the job,"

"Thanks," Blaise said finally remembering some of his manners through the intoxicated fog that was his brain at the moment.

"Pansy's been in already this morning, she couldn't remember much about last night either," Draco informed him pulling round a stool for Blaise to sit on and taking his cloak through to the back room to hang up.

"Oh, I can remember everything just fine, it's just painful to do so," Blaise said, rubbing his temple as the kettle started to whistle.

"Well she remembered enough to apologise to me so at least that was something. You going to tell me what got you into that funky mood you were in for the majority of the night?" Draco asked, pouring the water into the cups and letting Blaise take over his own coffee from there, knowing he would add too much milk or not stir it enough for the other's liking.

"Do I have to?" Blaise moaned as he took a sip of his coffee, a mixture of annoyance at Draco and pleasure at the caffeine.

"Yes," Draco said simply.

Blaise sighed and put his mug down and stared at Draco. Draco hated it when he did this. It was like he was reading him, reading every thought he had had in the past week, analysing it and judging him for it. He was too good at it sometimes.

"Why don't you tell me about Potter first, and how you seem determined to defend him?" Blaise said simply, leaning back in his stool, a stupid smug smile on his face.

"No, don't do that Blaise, you're here to spill about last night and that's what you are going to do. You aren't getting anything from me today," Draco said determined to keep the conversation on his terms and not loose it in the way he usually did.

Blaise studied him for a moment longer before he sighed and took another sip of his coffee. "Fine." Draco grinned and watched Blaise trying to analyse him in the way he does with Draco. He didn't do very well.

"When I get to a certain stage of drunkenness I get lonely," Blaise explained.

"I know that," Draco said, having experienced that Blaise before, too many times to count to be quite honest.

"Well I just got very lonely. Things are going no where with that girl at work and I just wanted someone to be there when I got home, okay? Happy now?" Blaise revealed. This was rare for them, they rarely shared anything so personal but Blaise knew Draco could be very persistent.

"Oh." Draco said, taken aback by his honesty. "Right, well, we need to get things rolling with this girl then, what was her name again?" Draco asked.

Blaise blinked at him, he had expected Draco to want to change the subject immediately so that he didn't have to help with any personal stuff, so that they didn't have to share any more but this seemed to be a different Draco. He wasn't about to pass up the helping hand so he decided to play along. They spent the rest of the morning drinking coffee and planning the most elaborate wooing that Blaise had ever been a part of.

* * *

><p>Harry tapped his fingers along with the music coming from the wireless he had propped up on the window while he read a book that Hermione had dropped off the other day, insisting that he read it, and that she hadn't been able to put it down. He did have to admit, she had a good eye for good books and he was having a little difficulty in stopping at the next chapter like he told himself he would. He didn't read fiction novels that often, never really had, but every now and then Hermione would insist he read a book and he would, just to shut her up half the time. He would never really admit that he actually enjoyed the books, not to her face anyway.<p>

He was sitting at the kitchen table, still in only pyjama bottoms, slippers and a hoodie from when he had finally pulled himself out of his bed at around eleven o'clock in the morning, a few hours after Lewis left. He had also eaten the left over pancakes that Draco had left him, all of the pancakes, and he didn't even feel guilty about it either, even though he estimated that there must have been over seven before he had ravenously tucked into them.

Harry was just leaning forward over his book as it got to a particularly exciting part, when Draco stepped through the flames and into the kitchen. He took in Harry's appearance, dishevelled and slouchy, bent over a book and with an empty plate covered in syrup next to him, and rose his eyebrows.

"Afternoon," he said as he hung up his cloak and pulled out the seat next to Harry. Harry raised his head and smiled at him before bending back over his book, not saying a word. "What are you reading?"

"A book," Harry said, his tone distracted and telling Draco that he would continue to get silly answers like this if he were to continue to bother him.

"Right," Draco said with a nod and pointed his wand to the kettle on the stove to start it boiling. He tapped his fingers on the table, to a different beat than what was playing from the wireless and looked around him for something to do or to talk about. He couldn't help noticing the amount of dishes left in the sink and sitting ready to get dried and put away, and the amount of packets and boxes of food left lying around and he wondered what Harry had done all day.

Harry eventually marked his page in his book and pushed it away from him as Draco hunted for a clean mug to make his coffee in. "How was work?" he asked Draco.

"Fine, how was your night out last night?" Draco asked as he begrudgingly washed out the mug he had used that morning that had been where he left it.

"Fine," Harry said off handedly.

"Just fine?" Draco said and he turned to look at Harry briefly to study his facial expression, Harry was getting better at hiding what he was really thinking and managed to almost convincingly shrug. If Draco hadn't been expecting more, he wouldn't have thought anything of it but because he knew that Harry had brought someone home last night he picked up on the little side glance Harry gave the fireplace.

"Yes."

"I would have thought that bringing someone home classified as more than just fine," Draco said and turned with his coffee and sat back down in his seat. Harry narrowed his eyes at him for a second before scowling and reaching for his book.

"Well if you knew, then why did you ask?"

"What, did the morning after not go as well as you planned? Is that why you've sat around all day and not done any house work?" Draco said as he took an innocent sip of his coffee and gestured around them. Harry's face flushed with anger and a spark of adrenaline shot through Draco as he realised that they were moments away from starting an argument.

"Says you that has left all that mess upstairs in the drawing room," Harry bit back, not missing a beat when it came to a good argument, ready and waiting with his comebacks.

"I barely had time to make breakfast this morning before I went to work, but I still did it, which I see you have ate the rest of by the way. And I had every intention of cleaning up my mess this afternoon. I thought maybe, just maybe you would have been kind enough to do some of it while you had nothing to do this morning, but clearly I was mistaken," Draco said.

"Why should I? You'd never do the same for me!" Harry said.

"I have done the same for you, many times. I've cleaned up after you've made dinner too many times to count. I leave one little mess because I didn't have time and you start giving me shit for it,"

"Hey! You started it! You could have just cleaned up after yourself without a word and we wouldn't be having this discussion," Harry protested, gesturing around the kitchen with a sweep of his arm.

"Well considering not all this mess if mine I would have thought that you would have at least attempted to clean up after _yourself_, clearly not. No I suppose sitting around feeling sorry for yourself because you yet again fell into bed with someone you don't know, or care about, for thirty-six minutes of pleasure when you'd rather have some one to come home too and cuddle with, is a much more productive way to spend your morning," Draco ranted. He was impressed with himself that he had managed to say all of that, he'd been thinking about it since the night before but hadn't thought he would actually have the guts to say it out loud.

"I can't believe you- What are you even talking about Malfoy?" Harry attempted to make come backs but had been thrown off by Draco's comments.

"I'm talking about your intimacy issues Potter," Draco said simply, taking another sip of his coffee. They glared at each other for a moment before Harry snatched up his book and stood up quickly, his chair almost falling over in the process.

"Fuck you Malfoy. You want to talk issues? Maybe look at your relationship with your mother before you start talking about my issues," Harry said and he stormed from the room, racing up the stairs before he could hear Draco's response.

"Don't you dare bring my mother into this!" Draco shouted after him but he was sure Harry was far enough away that he didn't hear him, he certainly didn't get any further response.

They refused to speak to each other for the rest of the day and both refused to tidy up after themselves or each other. When one of them walked into a room, the other walked out, it was the biggest falling out they had had since Draco moved in and it looked like it would last for days.

* * *

><p>Hermione stepped from the hearth of the fire and into Harry's kitchen before she stopped dead, her hands pausing halfway to removing her cloak. Ron, whom had been hot on her heels in coming out of the fire walked into the back of her, almost stumbling back into the flames, just catching himself before he landed in them.<p>

"Hermione, what-? Whoa!" Ron straightened and looked around the kitchen, taking in the bomb site that it was.

There were things lying around the kitchen everywhere, the kitchen table was littered with plates and dishes, packets of food, newspapers, magazines, what appeared to be bits of Harry's paperwork and even random articles of clothes. The kitchen counters didn't look much better, the sink was full to bursting with dirty dishes and plates and the counters were littered with take away boxes with left over food that had started to congeal in the bottom.

Before Ron or Hermione could comment on what they had walked into Draco came down the stairs in a pair of jogging bottoms and an over sized t-shirt with stains all over it. Hermione couldn't decide which sight she was surprised by the most, the state of the kitchen or the state of Draco.

"Oh, hello," Draco said once he noticed the couple standing watching him. He carried on to the sink, placed the mug he had been carrying on the teetering pile and pulled out another, clean one from the cupboard, the last clean one if the empty cupboard was anything to go by.

"What-? What is going on here?" she asked.

"I don't know what you mean," Draco said simply and his tone told her that he knew exactly what she meant.

"This place! I was just here on thursday, you can't possibly have made this much mess in three days," Hermione said. She walked over to the table and moved some paper around, picking up a half finished mug of coffee from one of Harry's case reports noting the coffee stain circle it left before she replaced it and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Oh, no this didn't take three days," Draco said gesturing around the whole kitchen. "This is pretty much from yesterday morning,"

"What happened?" Ron said giving Draco a cautious glance sensing an argument if he didn't pick the right words. He was leant against the counter sipping his coffee and seemed a little on edge, his eyes looked far too bright and his skin was going past his normal shade of pale.

"Potter decided to stop cleaning up after himself, so I did too," Draco shrugged and there was a slight twitch forming in his right eye as he surveyed the kitchen table and sipped coffee from his clean mug. He was smiling but there was something about the smile that made it look a little bit more crazy than just happy.

Before Ron could respond, which he wasn't even sure if he could if he wanted to anyway, Harry came stomping down the stairs, one shoe on, one shoe off and in jeans and a t-shirt that looked like it was in much the same state as Draco's. He glared at Draco once he reached the bottom and pulled on the one trainer he didn't have on his foot, supporting himself against the wall. "Don't even make it sound as if this is all my fault because it's not. You were the one that started all this," he snapped. He hadn't bothered to greet or even look in Ron or Hermione's direction only seeming to have eyes for Draco.

"Here we go again," Draco said rolling his eyes and putting his mug down on the only free space on the counter behind him and turning to Harry.

"When was the last time you cleaned a toilet Draco huh? I don't think you ever have, or bought groceries? Don't try and say I don't do anything around here," Harry said.

"All I'm asking for is a little consideration around the mess you leave behind you! I don't know what you did before I moved in because the way you are acting it's like you've never washed a dish in your life. And I'm the one that came from a house with elves," Draco said. Their voices were getting louder the more they argued and Hermione hadn't seen anything like that kind of behaviour from Harry since Hogwarts.

"Pfft. Please! Since you moved in the only thing I've found myself doing is cleaning up after you! You make it seem like you do all the work but really you only did it because I asked you to or you were trying to get into my good books, make sure I didn't throw you out again. Although, I don't know why you wouldn't want that, you'd get to go back and live with your mother!" Harry shouted. The next thing that happened, happened so fast that Hermione was unable to stop it before it did.

Draco had drawn his wand and cast a wordless spell in Harry's direction, Harry must have had a bit of practice in sensing when Draco would strike however as he deflected it with a twist of his wrist before he withdrew his own wand, ready to duel. Hermione was speechless but luckily Ron was more aware and stepped in with a disarming spell on the two of them, catching both of their wands before they knew what hit them.

"What on earth are you two doing?" Ron shouted, his voice loud and threatening and Hermione guessed this must be what he was like while at work, having never seen it first hand herself she had been told he could be quite intimidating. She'd never truly believed it until now.

Harry and Draco looked at Ron, Harry blinking at him and Hermione as if just realising they were there for the first time, and Hermione guessed he actually was, considering he hadn't seemed to see them when he had first come in. Draco bowed his head and Hermione was surprised he was actually going to take a telling from Ron, without a fight, she tried not to look it though.

"Are you seriously fighting like this over house work? It literally takes two minutes to clean dishes by magic, and you two are fighting about it?" Ron asked, his voice booming around the kitchen and Hermione couldn't help feeling a swell of pride in him.

"That's not the point Ron," Harry said, getting some of his fight back now that he was over the shock of being disarmed by his best friend, he even made a reach for his wand but Ron yanked it out of his reach.

"I don't bloody care what the point of this is! I don't care if it's about pride or what it's about, you are both acting as if you are back in school, and I seriously thought you two were over that by now," Ron said. Harry bowed his head too but not before sneaking a glance at Draco first.

"Can I make a suggestion?" Hermione said and the three men turned to look at her. She took that as a yes. "If it is bothering you both so much and causing this much tension then don't you think that maybe something like a rota would be a good idea here?"

"A rota?" Draco asked with a frown, his voice a lot more gentle than it was five minutes ago and the twitch in his eye having disappeared.

"Yeah. Take it week about to do the dishes and the tidying and cleaning. Of course you would have to be a little more considerate than you are right now and at least tidy up behind yourselves too, that way it's fair," Hermione explained with a shrug. There was a moments silence before Harry sighed loudly.

"That could work. I suppose," Harry said quietly while Draco mumbled something about giving it a shot.

"Good," Hermione nodded with a smile.

"Can I give you these back now? You're not going to curse each others balls off are you?" Ron said. Hermione smacked him on the arm for being crude but Harry and Draco just rolled their eyes, reaching for their wands at the same time, but safely tucking them away.

"Great. Now, Harry, you go and get ready and we can head to the burrow for dinner," Hermione said, adjusting her cloak.

"What are you talking about? I am ready," Harry said with a frown.

"You're kidding right?" Ron said eyeing Harry's dirty shirt and jeans that Hermione now realised had holes in them, and not the kind that are deliberate holes.

"No," Harry said looking down at himself. Draco had moved back to finish his coffee and watched the interaction from against the counter.

"Mum will kill you if you turn up like that, go and change," Ron said rather forcefully. Draco tried to stop the snigger from escaping but he obviously didn't stop it quick enough and Ron turned to him. "What are you laughing at ferret?"

Draco raised his eyebrows but figured that he liked having all of his bodily organs where they were and so didn't share the comment that was going around in his head about Ron's mothers standard of dress. Plus Weasley had just saved him from probably being blown apart by Potter so supposed he owed him something.

Draco put his hands up in surrender. "Nothing," he said pushing away from the counter and heading for the stairs, following after where Hermione had managed to convince Potter to go up and get changed for dinner. He heard Weasley mutter something after him but didn't bother acting on it, he'd had enough excitement where arguments were concerned over the last few days, plus the mention of Sunday dinner reminded him he needed to go and get ready for his with his mother. He would sort out the mess of the house when he and Harry were back home later that night.


	7. Chapter 7

So this took longer than I had intended mainly because It took so long for me to be able to sit down and write it, my fault completely.

I'd like to thank PureHeartedTyrant for beta-ing this for me, she did an awesome job and I can't thank her enough. It's due to her that I actually really kicked myself into getting this completed. Hopefully the next one won't be too far behind this one. I've just got to start writing that one now.

Enjoy!

* * *

><p>Part 7<p>

Draco sighed as he fell into the chair beside the fire in the Drawing room. He felt exhausted and that he really shouldn't be considering all he had done was go to dinner, come home, and swing his arm around a lot. As it turns out apparently cleaning by magic is just as exhausting as doing it the muggle way.

He had come home from his Sunday dinner with his mother early because there was only so much he could take from her these days. He had found out that apparently absence did not make the heart grow fonder when it came to his mother. She wanted to know about every little thing that was going on in his life, he was sure she didn't used to be this interested when he was still living with her. Not only that, but she was also determined to find him a date for the Ministry ball that was coming up in a few weeks. The one he had completely forgotten about agreeing to go to. The minute he had turned up at the Manor he wanted to be back at Grimmauld place. Apparently the house, and maybe even the company, was growing on him more and more.

So he had cut dinner short, skipping the Irish coffee and came home to an empty house. Empty but still messy. He decided that he was best to get back into Harry's good graces so decided to tidy and clean so that they could start a fresh, in more ways than one. It had taken longer than he had hoped and all he wanted to do now was curl up in front of the fire and sleep. He probably would have done so too if Harry hadn't stumbled through it at that moment.

"Oh hey," Draco said, straightening in his chair and rubbing his eyes.

"Hey, you're back early are you not?" Harry said, perching in the chair next to Draco and rubbing absently at his elbow that he probably bashed on his way through the floo.

"There was a reason why I moved out, one that I was reminded of tonight," Draco said, curling his legs up in the chair and leaning on the arm of the chair to look at Harry.

"Which was?" Harry asked, distractedly as he was now trying to look at his elbow to see if there was any lasting damage. Draco could see from where he sat that there wasn't.

"My mother," Draco simply said. Harry looked over at him and grinned.

"I like your mum," Harry said simply, dropping his elbow and curling up in his own chair, angled towards Draco so they could watch each other.

"When was the last time you saw her?" Draco asked.

"Uhm…alright good point," Harry said with a small smile. Draco smiled back and shrugged.

"You're also back earlier than I expected," Draco said and glanced over at the clock on top of the fireplace and seeing it was just after seven.

"Yeah. I love the Weasley's, but sometimes going from here where it's peaceful and quiet and nice, to the Burrow when everyone is home can be a bit overwhelming," Harry explained. Draco nodded and they continued to look at each other even though the conversation had stopped. Draco looked away towards the fire before it became seriously awkward. The fire wasn't particularly interesting but it was better than the awkward silence that would follow if he had continued to look at Harry. He couldn't even understand why he would want to look at the specky git anyway.

"Hey, I just noticed, you've cleaned," Harry commented, glancing around him. The kitchen had bared the brunt of their little cleaning standoff but the Drawing room had also been affected enough for Harry to notice it was now clean and tidy.

"Yeah. Thought it would be a better idea if we just started this whole agreement thing fresh," Draco said and shrugged, glancing back at Harry, who was still watching him.

"Good thinking. Can we work out the rota tomorrow? I really don't feel like discussing the matter anymore tonight," Harry said blinking sleepily at Draco. Draco just nodded and looked back at the fire. "Okay. I'm going to go up to bed, see you in the morning,"

"Sure. Night," Draco said, he watched from the corner of his eye as Harry stood, stretched and then left. He fell back against the back of his chair once Harry closed the door and realized how tense he was. He didn't know why he was tense; he couldn't quite figure it out. Something between he and Harry was changing and he wasn't sure yet whether he liked it or not. And when did Potter become Harry anyway?

* * *

><p>Harry smiled and waved as he closed the black metal gate behind him after leaving Mrs. Jenkin's house. The little old lady had been robbed by a group of youths on the weekend and Harry was just following up to let her know they had caught the boys involved, that they had been charged and had to give her back the items they stole. She had insisted on filling him up with tea and treacle tart for the past half hour and he didn't have the heart to brush her off. Plus she was his last stop for the day anyway so he really didn't see the harm, not to mention the treacle tart was one of the best he had ever tasted.<p>

He had been doing house calls all day, one of his favorite jobs at his work, he enjoyed it just as much as patrolling and being out catching the bad guys with Ron. As always however it was a rare opportunity so he cherished the time knowing he would be back behind his desk tomorrow.

Harry walked in towards the city center of London; Mrs. Jenkin's house only a few streets away and in a busy muggle area, far too risky to apparate in, in broad daylight. He planned to go into Diagon Alley to pick up a few things before apparating home.

It was sometimes nice being in a muggle area, being inconspicuous and unrecognizable to all of these people, it was peaceful. Harry would probably be quite happy to give up everything and go back into the muggle world some days. Only some days though. As much as he complains about it at times, most of the time he couldn't imagine giving up his family, his friends or his job.

He went through the Leaky Cauldron to get through to Diagon Alley, denied the free drink Tom offered him, telling a fib and saying he was still on the clock. He carried on through and ended up on the busy street, a smile on his face as he made his way to Gringotts. It didn't take him long to do what he had to do at the bank and get the few pieces of shopping. He was heading back to the Leaky Cauldron, he might just take Tom up on that offer of a drink, when he passed Draco's Apothecary and doubled back. He was curious.

Harry peered through the door before he entered, seeing it was dark but seemingly empty inside. He stepped in and took in the sights and smells of the shop. It smelt slightly musty and reminded him of Snape's Potion's room at Hogwarts. There was an amazing smell coming from the small archway leading to the back room and potion making area Harry assumed. He had no idea what the potion was, but it smelt of fresh air, his flying robes and a smell he recognized from home but couldn't pin point. The walls of the shop were filled with various sizes of bottles and boxes, some ready-made potions marked with little labels and some ingredients on display. It was all exactly like Harry imagined it to be right down to the little bell sat upon the counter.

He couldn't help but inspect some of the bottles, especially the ones half hiding in the shadows, just to make sure Draco was keeping to the Ministry's codes and legislation on potion making and selling. It appeared he was, which Harry was happy to discover. Apparently he still had slight trust issues with his old enemy. He promptly dinged the bell after his inspection and waited with his hands in his pockets and a smile.

"Just a minute!" he heard Draco's voice shout from through the archway. Harry's smile grew and he dinged the bell again.

"I said just a minute!"

_Ding_!

"Just- hold on!"

_Ding! Ding!_

"For Merlin's sake, have some patience!" Draco's voice was growing more and more aggravated and Harry was laughing a little now.

He insistently pressed the bell and was still laughing by the time Draco swore loudly and stormed from the back room. His face only made Harry laugh more as a look of surprise, outrage and harassment crossed his face all at once. Harry really shouldn't have found it as funny as he did but he couldn't help but take some amusement out of Draco's annoyance.

"Oh, well I might have known," Draco pouted, throwing his arms up in exasperation. "Harry, do you realize that I now have to start all over again on a very delicate and precise potion that I have just spent the last two days making? You are reimbursing me for the money I wasted on it,"

"What were you making?" Harry asked, still grinning even though he was pretty sure he wasn't about to be when he finds out how much money he is owed Draco.

"Felix Felicis," Draco snapped and disappeared back through the arch way. Harry took this as an invite to follow him. Through the back the delicious smell, that he could now understand, increased in intensity. It wasn't much brighter through there, but was certainly much warmer. Everything was still all neat and organized even though Draco was apparently part of the way through a potion. Harry didn't know how he could be so neat all the time, with the rare spiteful exceptions of course.

"Impressive," Harry commented, partly on his work place, mostly on his potion skills.

"Well, believe it or not Harry, I am a potions master," Draco said as he vanished his ruined potion with a flick of his wand and sent ingredients that had been neatly organized on the table into their proper homes. "Mr. Harrison is going to have to wait a little longer on that promotion," Draco muttered under his breath as he started to charm his equipment clean.

"What did you do with all that before I showed you those cleaning spells?" Harry commented with a frown as he leaned against a counter that hosted the sink with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Well, before I moved in with you, I had access to the Manor and everything that belonged with it at any time. Including the house elf," Draco said, keeping his focus, mainly embarrassed to admit what he had just admitted.

Harry couldn't say he was surprised or that he shouldn't have expected an answer like that, so he tried to move past it without any further comment on the matter. "Has the shop been busy today?" he asked, changing the subject.

"Yeah, ridiculously so," Draco said grateful for the change, he glanced up at the clock on the far wall, above his fireplace, it was half past five. "What are you doing here anyway?"

"I was doing house calls and popped down for some ink wells and quills, you know, the usual stuff. I was passing by and thought I'd pop in, I'd never seen your shop before after all," Harry explained.

"I see," Draco nodded and sent his chopping board and knifes flying across the room to where they normally went, narrowly missing Harry's hand that had just reached up to push his glasses up his nose. "What are you doing for dinner?"

"Don't know. What would you like?" Harry asked. Draco leaned against his potions table, facing Harry, mirroring his stance by crossing his arms and settled just to the right of Harry.

"Don't know," Draco shrugged.

"I don't really fancy cooking to be honest, but I really don't think I can have another take away without throwing up," Harry said, smirking at the pout Draco gave him about the take away.

"I suppose it would do to have a little break from them, | struggled to get into my dress robes the other day," Draco said, blushing slightly.

"You can't say I didn't warn you," Harry grinned. "Hey, do you want to go to the Leaky for a meal?" Harry asked, struck with the sudden idea and voicing it before really giving it some thought.

Draco looked up from the floor, which he had been staring at since he started blushing and analyzed Harry's expression for a moment.

"I go there with Ron and Hermione sometimes and they do a good steak pie," Harry felt the need to justify his idea a little.

"Uhm, sure. Why not?" Draco finally said with a shrug, seeing no harm in it. It would be a nice friendly meal, just like at home, but in public. It couldn't be that different surely.

"Alright, well I could just wait around here until you close or…?" Harry started, unsure how to finish that sentence, what else could he do except go and sit in the Leaky Cauldron nursing a pint on his own like a right loner for an hour, or go home and come back again, neither of which sounded very appealing.

"I'll close up early, Merlin knows what else you can destroy, being in here. You could go on ahead and order me a fire whiskey, I'll only be a minute," Draco said, pushing off from the table and moving towards the front end of the shop.

"Alright, see you in five minutes then?" Harry asked, following him and going for the door while Draco went to the till, assumedly to count the money.

"Yeah. Oh and Harry?" Draco said, causing Harry to look back, hand on the door knob. "You're paying, I'm picking the most expensive thing on the menu and we'll call it quits on the Felicis."

Harry smiled and shook his head slightly. "Of course."

* * *

><p>Harry settled at a table tucked up in the corner of the Leaky Cauldron, his butterbeer in hand and Draco's fire whiskey sitting across from him waiting. He opened up a menu even though he knew what he wanted, mainly for pretenses and to pass the time. It didn't dawn on him until now how weird this could possibly be. He was out in public having dinner with Draco Malfoy. To some of the people in the pub it would come as a surprise that they were even talking. Strangely, the press had been pretty quiet on the fact that they were living together, in fact Harry wasn't sure they even knew.<p>

Some other people, people much like Rita Skeeter, whom thankfully wasn't even in the country anymore, last Harry heard, but there were still many people like her around and in the business of journalism, those people would even jump to the conclusion that they were on a date. Even though it wasn't technically general knowledge that Harry was inclined that way, there were enough rumors around that would suffice as proof.

Harry tried not to think about what other people would think and instead concentrated on his menu the best he could and finished his butterbeer. He was just starting on his second when Draco walked in, scoping the room for any sign of Harry. He spotted him quickly despite the secluded corner Harry had picked. He walked over, weaving between the tables and chairs, and Harry watched the people around him, most ignoring them, but some, mainly the families, out for a family meal, looked up, frowning at Draco, some even scowling and then looking at the direction Draco was headed and seeing Harry. Harry could tell the majority were just surprised.

Draco reached the table, shook off his cloak and draped it over the back of his chair and Harry tried to stop obsessing over what other people were thinking and saying about him. He normally didn't care; wasn't interested in what the press said about him. He wasn't sure if it was because it was Draco and his past and his reputation, but he kind of cared a bit more.

"Have you ordered yet?" Draco asked as he sat down and plucked the menu that was hanging loosely in Harry's hand from him.

"Nah, but I know what I'm having anyway," Harry said, focusing his attention on Draco now and not those around him.

"Which is?" Draco asked.

"Chicken and bacon burger, it's what I always have," Harry shrugged, taking a swig from his butterbeer and leaning forward on his forearms.

"And is it good?" Draco asked peering over the top of the menu to look at Harry.

"Well I keep having it so it must be," Harry said with a teasing grin. Draco rolled his eyes but focused back on the menu.

"I'm going to stick to my word and have steak. It's the most expensive even if that is only ten galleons," Draco said, putting the menu back and taking a sip of his drink.

"What do you expect with pub food?" Harry said. "Shall I go up and order then?"

"Thanks," Draco grinned after making no effort to move. Harry didn't expect anything else to be quite honest.

* * *

><p>It didn't take long for them to order their food and receive it. They chatted about all kinds of things, general friendly things, like their jobs, the people at their work and who they liked and didn't like. They were able to have a sensibly nice conversation and didn't start arguing once. Neither of them were sure why it went so well, but both of them separately concluded that it might have had something to do with being out in public, even though they both claimed not to care what other people thought about them and even though all the way through dinner they didn't focus on anything around them, just each other.<p>

Harry yawned and scratched the back of his head as he made his way down the stairs to the kitchen. Everything was quiet and calm, mainly because it was Saturday and Draco was at his work. It was just past nine o'clock in the morning and Harry had just woken up, a long lie for him. He kind of hoped that nothing happened at the ministry today; he didn't want to be called in, mainly because of all the paperwork he had to catch up on and he knew he'd never have it all done in time if he had to be called in for yet another dead end on the whereabouts of certain criminals.

He made himself some coffee and helped himself to some cereal and started to read the paper that Draco had left out on the table for him. Things were going relatively well for the pair of them, in Harry's opinion anyway. They were always at the very least civil to each other if not actually friendly. It certainly made both of their lives easier when they got along, there hadn't been anymore incidents like the cleaning scenario and that definitely helped matters. Harry would go as far as to admit that he actually took pleasure in spending time with Draco; he enjoyed their little chats about work and general life that they shared in the evenings over dinner and even the time the spent in silence, working or reading but in each other's company. He considered Draco a friend.

Harry was just starting on the half-finished crossword puzzle that Draco had started and left for him, a bit of a routine that had formed between them, when the fireplace burst into life and Ron's head swam amongst the emerald flames. Harry folded his paper, expecting Ron to be asking if he can come through and mainly if Draco was there, and flicked his wrist at the kettle.

"He's at work, come on through," he said and stood up to sort mugs and tea bags out.

"No Harry, that's not why I'm here. We've got him, we've got Lenkov," Ron said. Harry blinked a couple of times before darting to the stairs without another word to go and get changed.

Lenkov was a serial killer, out to finish the work that Voldemort started and the Aurors had been after him for a number of years. His first murder was Harry's first case as an auror so he had a bit of soft spot for any leads towards catching him. He was dangerous, as any serial killer is, but he had absolutely no compassion towards anyone and it made him ruthless. The quicker he was off the streets the better for everyone.

Harry returned to the kitchen only two minutes later and Ron was still hovering in the fire, waiting. "Where?" Harry asked as he snatched up his auror belt from the hook above the fireplace and fumbled to put it on.

"An old abandoned muggle warehouse in Cornwall; come to the ministry and we'll apparate there. They've got the place surrounded with Aurors who are just waiting on you to make the move," Ron explained.

"Alright, let's go then," Harry said taking a fistful of floo powder in his haste and waiting for Ron to pull out of the fireplace. He did immediately and Harry didn't even stop to leave a note for Draco to let him know where he was, not even thinking about Draco as he thought about catching Lenkov.

* * *

><p>Draco sighed as he opened the door to Grimmauld place. He had walked home from his shop due to the very nice whether they seemed to be having, and the fact that the floo network in the area had been shut down for maintenance, a very large inconvenience but something Draco couldn't do anything about, except maybe have a go at Harry about it and somehow blame him for it, just because he could.<p>

He noticed the house was very quiet and figured Harry was either still asleep or had gone out somewhere. He skipped down the stairs to the kitchen and flicked his wand at the kettle to start boiling some water on the stove for some coffee. He noticed a half-finished bowl of cereal, the cross word he had left for Harry and a stone cold cup of coffee left on the table. He frowned, it wasn't like Harry to just up and leave everything behind him, not after the drama they had the other week with chores and because it only took him a flick of the wrist to set everything straight. Draco stood and analyzed the table while he sipped his coffee and came to the conclusion that Harry had been called in to work. He was only able to guess that when he noticed his Auror belt was missing from above the fireplace.

He decided after pouring his second cup of coffee that this was a perfect opportunity to investigate that folder of documents in Harry's bottom drawer. He was more intrigued about it than actually wanting to use it against Harry now. He didn't mind Harry, he actually liked the guy a considerable amount, enough to want to continue living with him and he supposed he could do it under Harry's terms. It really didn't make a difference except Draco didn't have as much control, which wasn't preferable but he could deal with it.

He tidied up after what Harry had left, quite happily, considering he knew he had probably been whisked away quickly and not had the chance to do anything about what he was leaving behind. He figured he had a good hour or two at the most really, to have a good look at the folder, which was more than enough time. He got into Harry's room with the same amount of ease as the first time. Draco settled himself on the floor in front of Harry's desk and found the folder with Sirius scrawled on the front of it.

It didn't take very long for him to sort out the important parts and make copies of the documents he wanted to study in more detail. He made sure that everything was back the way it was found in the folder. He noticed as he was putting the folder back into the drawer, a picture in the corner. He plucked it out of the drawer and saw that it was a picture of Harry when he was younger, about fourteen Draco guessed, his Godfather's arms around his shoulder, both of them with face splitting grins. This just made Draco not want to take the house from him even more; this house meant a lot to Harry, why should Draco take that away from him? No matter what he or anybody else believed, it was rightfully his.

"Draco!" he heard from the bottom of the stairs, which started him out of his thoughts. He quickly stuffed the picture back in the drawer and put the copies he had made in the pocket of his trousers. He quickly closed and locked the door behind him before he heard another shout "Draco, are you home?"

It was Hermione's voice that was shouting at him from the bottom of the stairs in the entrance hallway which confused him slightly. He skipped down the steps and saw her looking flustered and worried from one set of stairs up. "Granger? Harry's not here."

"I know, that's why I am," Hermione huffed and as Draco joined her he noticed her eyes were red and her skin was blotchy. Had she been crying?

"What's going on?"

"It's Harry; he's in St Mungo's. Ron owled me fifteen minutes ago. He's unconscious, and unresponsive. He was hunting down Lenkov and- where are you going?" Hermione started to explain and had started to get teary and emotional before Draco collected his cloak from where he had left it on the banister from when he had come in and headed to the kitchen.

"To St Mungo's, are you just going to stay here or are you coming with me?" Draco said as if it was quite clear and quite a normal thing for him to be doing.

Hermione paused for a moment to adjust to the idea that Draco Malfoy was going to visit Harry while he was in the hospital and wondered if Harry had been holding out on how close they had become. She knew they could tolerate each other, but she thought that was as far as it went. Were they actually friends? She just took a short moment to run these thoughts through her head before she smiled at him.

"Floos are down, we gotta apparate," Hermione said simply.

"Right," Draco nodded and changed direction, stalking past her for the door, avoiding the eye contact she was desperately trying to make with him. She ran to catch up and they made their way out to the first step to apparate. Draco felt as if the bottom of his stomach fell out as soon as Hermione said Harry was in St Mungo's and the feeling just grew the longer he had to think about it. It confused him that he felt this way but he vowed to himself that he would analyze those thoughts later.

* * *

><p>Hermione took the lead as they walked the halls of St Mungo's, towards the reception area. Draco had only been to the hospital once with his mother and father to visit an old relative when he was very young and he couldn't remember much about it. What he could remember was the smell. The smell of cleaning spells and food that had been reheated one too many times. They reached the reception desk and the welcome witch and thankfully were seen quickly.<p>

"Welcome to St Mungo's, how can I help?" the little blonde, blue eyed witch asked scanning over Hermione and Draco as if to look for something wrong with them; for a reason for them to be there in front of her. Draco kept quiet and gestured for Hermione to do all the talking.

"We're here to see Harry Potter; he was brought in about an hour ago? We're his friends," Hermione said and glanced quickly over at Draco.

The witch smiled a little tightly and her eyes narrowed. "Password please?"

"Excuse me?" Draco said, the shock of her abrupt question pushing him out of his silence.

"You need a password for me to give you information about where Harry Potter is, for security reasons," the Witch said smugly.

"Do you realize who-" Draco started but stopped abruptly when he felt Hermione's hand on his arm. Years ago this action would have disgusted him, now; sure he noticed it a little more than if anyone else were to touch him but it didn't bother him or make him want to scrub his arm clean.

"It's okay Draco, I know what the password will be," Hermione said with a soft smile in his direction. She turned back to the witch and said calmly. "Padfoot,"

Draco frowned; wondering if that was an actual word or just a funny noise that she had made. The witch's smile dropped and she sighed, the name, or sound or whatever it was must have worked because she handed over two plastic badges. "Fourth floor, spell damage, room four hundred and fifty three, wear the badges and security will let you straight through and you will not be followed,"

"Thank you," Hermione said and pressed one of the badges into the palm of Draco's hand. He looked at it and saw that all it said on it was 'Authorized.' He pinned the badge to the front of his shirt anyway and followed after Hermione, who had taken off towards the stairs already.

They didn't talk at all on the way up to the fourth floor, Hermione's face remained emotionless and blank the whole time, concentrating intently on getting to Harry's room and Draco was reminded about how close they really were. Of course if he didn't know better he would think they were a couple, but instead because he did knew they weren't, it was more like a sibling relationship. He briefly wondered what that felt like, especially to Harry, considering he had no real family.

They finally got to the right floor and down the right corridor towards Harry's room, Draco immediately saw Ron, two other Auror's and a member of the hospital security in the hallway ahead of them. Hermione almost ran straight to Ron and he wrapped her up in a tight hug and nodded in Draco's direction to acknowledge his presence.

"He's still unconscious, they're still trying to figure out what curse was used. It all just happened so fast," Ron said, mainly to Hermione, but loud enough for Draco to hear him too. He approached the door of room four hundred and fifty three and looked through the small pane of glass. From what he could see, Harry was lying on a hospital bed with his face looking pretty beaten up and his Auror robes pretty much in shreds. There were three healers all working around him, performing spells over him to find out what was wrong and the cause of it.

"Have you been allowed in yet?" Draco asked softly, turning back to the still embracing couple.

"Not yet, they've been working on him since we got here. They're waiting on the Head Healer to come round to see if he can shed some light on the whole thing. It could still be a few more hours," Ron explained. Draco pursed his lips, not quick enough, was the only thought that went through his head for a minute. He came to the conclusion he disliked hospitals and everything about them. The smell, the brightness, and the way they generally worked.

Draco focused his attention on Ron for a moment and noticed how tense he looked. "Why don't you two go and get some coffee? I'll stay here and make sure that nothing happens," he said. Hermione looked a little hesitant to leave, considering she had just got there and hadn't even been able to see Harry yet, but Ron managed to smile at Draco and ease her away slowly.

Just as they disappeared down the hallway one of the Healers left Harry's room and Draco took his opportunity. He stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. "Excuse me, but may I ask why it is taking so long for Mr. Potter to be seen by the head Healer?" he asked with a pleasant smile to put the woman at ease. It seemed to work.

"Healer Finch is a very busy man and had many patients to see. He will be with Mr. Potter shortly," she said as if her speech was scripted, and Draco assumed it probably was. He wasn't entirely sure how hospitals worked but he thought maybe there was a high chance that most healers were force fed the same shit excuses to spit out at people.

"I don't think you realize what kind of patient you have in your care right now. Mr. Harry Potter is very important in our society and in our Auror force and I think that maybe, just maybe you should remind your dear healer Finch of this little fact," Draco said, switching to his usual menacing but persuasive self in a blink of an eye.

"Sir, I do not appreciate the tone you are using," the healer snapped and frowned at him, taken aback by the sudden change in mood between them. Draco noticed the two Auror's that were left in the hallway looked over at them and he couldn't tell if they were preparing to deal with the healer or with him. He guessed it was probably him, given his past.

"And I do not appreciate the service that my friend is receiving here. I may have to write a strongly worded letter to the Ministry about the way this hospital is run," Draco said sharply. The healer looked affronted but did not say anything further. It looked like she wanted to, but she had snapped her mouth shut and crossed her arms protectively around herself

"Mr. Weasley?" a voice from behind him asked and Draco spluttered, both from slight shock and the fact that he had just been mistaken for a Weasley.

"Do I look like a Weasley to you?" Draco snapped, turning around to face the man behind him. He was in a different style of Healer robes from what the one he had just been speaking to was wearing. He was tall, just taller than Draco, wore glasses and clearly kept his brown hair neat.

"Uh…sorry my mistake," the man said and glanced down at the clip board in front of him. "This here says that Mr. Ron Weasley brought Mr. Potter in,"

"Yes. Weasley is getting coffee with his fiancé. I am also a…good friend of Potter's, so any information, you can tell me also," Draco said. He crossed his arms, a little defensively and waited for the Healer to carry on. He didn't.

"I have yet to examine Mr. Potter, so I can't share any information just yet," he replied instead.

"Well what are you waiting for them? It's about time you were here anyway," Draco snapped. The Healer narrowed his eyes at Draco but forced a smile and entered Harry's room; the female healer that had been cowering behind Draco quickly scuttled after him and closed the door.

Draco sighed and collapsed into a chair opposite the door, he could do with a coffee, he just hoped Weasley and Granger were considerate enough to bring him back one, even though he technically didn't ask. He slumped in the chair; he knew he was probably in for a long wait on the Healers coming out with any news for him, if they would even share it with him after the way he spoke to them. He'd like to blame it on stress, but he knew that strictly wasn't true. It was more likely that he was just being himself.


	8. Chapter 8

Okay guys, sorry that it has taken so long, a few of you probably thought this had been abandoned but alas, no. it's just been worked on very hard. This actually only took a few days to write, most of the time I just didn't get around to writing it. Hopefully the next one will be quicker if it flows the same as this one.

Huge thanks to PureHeartedTyrant again for being my beta, I seriously don't know what I'd do without her. Well no I do, I'd just publish it full of mistakes. :)

So anyway, enjoy it and let me know what you think of it.

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><p>Chapter 8<p>

Hermione and Ron returned with their coffees and another for Draco (only after Hermione insisted that it was only fair) and found Draco standing next to Harry's door speaking to a healer. They hung back until he had thanked the Healer and made his way towards them.

"What did they say?" Hermione asked as she handed him his coffee.

"Oh, thanks." Draco said taking a sip. It wasn't great but he didn't expect much, being in a hospital and all. "He's awake; you can go in and see him. He's got a pretty serious concussion from the fall after being hit by a nasty disarming spell. He broke a couple of ribs and his ankle too but they fixed that in no time. He's going to be alright."

"Okay. Are you coming in too?" Hermione asked as she hovered by the door.

"No, it's okay I'll let you two have time with him first," Draco smiled and settled himself in the chair opposite the door. Ron half smiled, in what Draco was sure was appreciation, and ducked into the room behind Hermione.

Harry smiled from where he was sat up in his bed as he watched Hermione and Ron enter the room. It was nice to see some familiar faces instead of just the Healers having a good poke and prod at him. Hermione rushed over and gave him a small tight hug. He patted her back and peered over her shoulder at Ron, who was rolling his eyes at her.

"Oh Harry, we were so worried," Hermione muttered in his ear before she pulled back and patted down his hair.

"I'm okay, just a little bump to the head, that's all," Harry grinned as he accepted a squeeze to the shoulder by Ron.

"Harry you were unconscious for a long time, that's not just a little bump. Plus you broke a couple of ribs and your ankle; you were seriously hurt!" Hermione said.

"Ouch, I'm fine now though. Speaking of which, what happened to Lenkov?" Harry asked, drawing the attention away from himself and forcing Hermione to stop looking at him as if he was at death's door.

"I think he was surprised that he was able to take you down as he kind of froze after you didn't move. Smith and Finn were able to disarm and body bind him, while I tried to revive you. His trial will be in a few weeks," Ron explained.

"Okay good, I'll have to write up the report for that tonight and send it straight over to-" Harry started and conjured up a quill, ink, and parchment to lie out on the table that his food was to be served on.

"I don't think so Harry. I don't think the Healers will want you to be stressing yourself out like this in your condition; you'll be lucky if you're able to go back to work in time for Lenkov's trial," Hermione said.

"Don't be silly Hermione, I'm fine," Harry said, looking to Ron and rolling his eyes again. This time however, Ron didn't smile back in understanding.

"I agree mate; you'll be lucky if they let you out of here by next week and even then I expect they'll want you to rest at home for a while. Fixing concussions with magic is a delicate process especially with ones as severe as yours," Ron said.

"You are both being silly, I am fine. I feel perfectly well and the Healers will not want to take up space in a bed here when there are people in a worse condition than me," Harry said. Hermione had already wrestled the parchment, quill and ink from him and so he crossed his arms over his chest in defiance at being told what to do.

"Just wait until you speak to a Healer first Harry, before you start diving back into work, okay?" Hermione said. Harry didn't say any more just continued to sulk with his arms crossed and looked out of the window. He saw out of the corner of his eye, Ron and Hermione, share a look but he ignored them.

"We'll leave you to think about that for now, plus there is someone else here that wants to see that you're okay anyway," Ron said. He squeezed Harry's shoulder again but Hermione didn't try to hug him while he was in this mood.

He thought the other person that wanted to see him would be Natasha, so he was surprised when Ron and Hermione left him and Draco passed them in the doorway. He looked a little more disheveled than what Harry was used to seeing him like, even after living with him all this time. His lips were tightly set in a line and almost blended into his skin color; his forehead had a deep worried crease across it. Draco's whole presence surprised Harry; really he didn't expect him there at all.

"Hey, how do you feel?" Draco asked at once, grabbing a chair that rested next to the door and pulling it close to the side of Harry's bed.

"I feel fine. I don't know why everyone is insisting on making a fuss about all of this, I could easily go home right now," Harry said.

"The head Healer said he had some more tests and questions to ask you first, just to make sure your memory is okay and that the temporary fix to your concussion isn't going to harm you in the long run," Draco explained. Harry bit down on his bottom lip to stop himself smiling. At least Draco was able to go into more detail about what was happening with him, unlike the other two.

"Ron and Hermione are acting like I'm going to be off of work for weeks. I don't remember ever having to stay on bed rest for that long, even after McLaggan cracked my skull. Surely that was more serious," Harry said.

"Well it'll maybe be a week tops, or so the Healer thinks, it's mainly precaution. It's different from when we were at school, we were young then, we healed quicker and easier because we were still growing then. Now you're older so it takes longer to heal and longer to make sure that what the Healers have done to fix you will actually help," Draco explained softly. His lips were twitching at the corners as he fought off a smile while his forehead returned to being smooth since he was no longer worried about Harry; he seemed to go back to being his usual stubborn self again.

"I think that's stupid," Harry pouted, looking down at his bed sheets and smoothing them over his legs.

"You would," Draco said rolling his eyes at him.

They sat in silence for a while, but it was a comfortable one for the most part anyway. "Quick question," Harry interrupted and looked back at Draco as he carried on. "Why are you even here? I didn't expect you to be visiting me here."

"Hermione came to the house worried to let me know what had happened, or at least what she knew, and I didn't see the point in hanging around the empty house by myself." Draco shrugged and then frowned as it finally hit him how much of his rehearsed excuse was a lie. He wasn't here because he didn't want to be alone at home; he was here because he cared about Harry. Plain and simple.

"Oh," Harry nodded. He knew. He knew there was more to it than that but, he wasn't about to be the one that started pushing it, pushing Draco to share his feelings, his true ones. So far it had been an unsaid and mainly unthought of decision between the pair of them. They both knew that this was turning into something more than just sharing a house together. What it was turning into however, was still yet to be decided by either of them.

"The Healer said that you could probably get out tomorrow, once they've finished all their questions and tests and stuff," Draco said, switching the attention from him again.

"Good, the sooner I get out of here, the better," Harry said. Before Draco could even roll his eyes at him, the door of the room opened and a Healer stepped in carrying her wand and a clipboard.

"Hello Mr. Potter, nice to see you finally awake. Gave some of us quite the scare," she said and gave Draco a look. He realized it was the same Healer that he had argued with outside and guiltily looked away.

"So I heard," Harry said, thinking of Hermione's overreaction when she had come in.

"I'm just going to carry out a couple of tests, just to make sure that everything is okay with the healing spells we used. We will keep you in overnight for observation but after that, if everything is okay, you will be able to go home tomorrow," the Healer explained. Harry nodded and grinned over at Draco.

"I'll just leave you to it then. I'll see you tomorrow Harry, when you get back," Draco said with a reassuring smile.

"Okay," Harry nodded, watching as the Healer waved her wand over his right arm a couple of times, for a reason he was unsure of. He looked up as he heard Draco opening the door. "Oh and Draco?"

"Yeah?" Draco turned with a frown.

"Thanks," Harry said with a half-smile before he focused back at where the Healer was poking at him. That thanks could have been for any number of things, from just being there, to being able to tell Harry in more detail what had and was going to happen to him. Draco knew that it in fact probably was for more than one thing. He just smiled, choosing not to ruin anything by responding and left, closing the door softly behind him.

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><p>"I can manage Hermione, I'm not a bloody invalid," Draco looked up from the sink where he was washing the dishes from the night before's very lonely dinner. He couldn't help the smile that split across his face at the sound of Harry back in the house. It was only one night that he was gone, but Draco noticed the difference straight away and didn't like it one bit.<p>

"Harry I just…" he could hear Hermione trailing off a little further away than Harry as he emerged at the bottom of the stairs into the kitchen.

Draco couldn't wipe the smile off his face as he took in Harry back in the kitchen. It felt like he had been away for weeks not merely hours and he found he had a strange urge to embrace the wizard as it all became very surreal, very quickly. It all started to sink in that technically, Harry could have been very seriously injured or even worse, yesterday and Draco appreciated his presence now very much.

Harry seemed to be just as happy to be home as Draco was to have him there as he too was grinning. Their eyes met and Draco found his smile growing beyond his control and he wondered briefly what the strange and completely unfamiliar feeling in his stomach was. Hermione joined them in seconds, breaking the spell between them, and Draco looked away to reach for a towel to dry his hands.

"They decided to let you out then?" Draco teased and pulled out a chair for Harry to sit in and flicked his wand at the kettle.

"They were barely given a choice, what with the fuss he made," Hermione answered for Harry and flopped into a chair across from the one that Harry was lowering himself into. He would never admit it to anyone, but he was a little unsteady and cautious in his movements for a reason; he didn't want to faint and end up back in Hospital again.

"Why am I not surprised?" Draco said setting out three mugs and taking milk out of the refrigerator. When he came back he noticed Harry blushing a little and looking a tad sheepish. His smile acted of its own accord again, spreading itself firmly across his face.

"I wasn't staying there any longer, I'm perfectly well and I need to be somewhere that I can properly finish my report," Harry justified.

"Uh-hu sure," Hermione and Draco both said in the exact same tone and at the same time. An awkward silence followed until Harry laughed and the tension was lifted.

Draco gave Hermione and Harry each a cup of coffee, made to their individual tastes, that he had learned over the past couple of weeks over observation and practice. The three of them sat around the table drinking coffee in silence.

"When did they say you could go back to work?" Draco asked eventually to break it. He half wished Hermione would hurry up and finish her coffee and leave so that he and Harry could talk alone. He craved Harry's attention and conversation, after being without it for a night, for a reason he didn't even want to imagine right now.

"A week, but I can't go out in the field for a month," Harry grumbled, clearly unhappy and Draco wondered how long he would actually last before he caved in. He gave him two weeks before he was justifying how he could go out on the field and not strain himself.

"How will you possibly cope?" Draco teased with a smirk over the top of his mug.

"No idea," Harry shrugged, smirking back at him. Something had drastically changed between the two of them after not living in the same house for just one night, or maybe since Draco decided to go to the hospital to visit Harry, he couldn't be sure. They were more relaxed and uninhibited around each other and there was something in the way they looked at each other that had changed as well. It was strange and all kinds of weird, but Draco was trying not to think too much about that either.

"I think I'm going to take a shower, the one in the hospital was rubbish," Harry said. He slowly got up and moved across the room, aware that Draco and Hermione were both watching him but ignoring them completely.

"Be careful," Hermione called after him before he disappeared up the stairs; Harry didn't even bother to respond to her.

She and Draco sat in awkwardness and eventually after a couple of minutes; Draco pulled the Sunday Prophet towards him even though he had already read it as soon as the owl dropped it off that morning. They had nothing to say to each other, or at least so Draco thought anyway.

"You'll look after him won't you? You won't let him push himself too much will you?" Hermione said.

Draco looked up from the article about the rogue gnomes that had taken over the Head Unspeakable's garden and studied Hermione's face. It was guarded but her eyes were steely and determined. He knew that she didn't fully trust him and that what she had asked was a big step for her. She had been more than civil to Draco up until now but he realized that they had never actually been alone together; there had always been someone there whether Harry or Ron. Apart from yesterday that is, when she came round to tell him about Harry, he figured this was probably the reason for the civil-ness. There was still resentment and all kinds of guilt and mistrust swirling around them and obviously with what had happened with Harry she was being even more cautious than ever. The trust that had been there around Draco recently had been taken away again, even if it did have nothing to do with him.

"Of course I'll keep an eye on him, I don't want him to end up back in that place any more than you or he does," Draco said.

"Thank you," Hermione said and took a sip of her coffee. "You've been more than I expected over these couple of days Draco. I can see now how much you've changed around each other."

"Uhm…thank you?" Draco said at the strange comment. He knew his and Harry's relationship had changed, but he didn't think that anyone else had noticed it yet.

"Just keep it that way okay? I know Harry can be difficult sometimes, but you have no idea how much happier he has been since you moved in here, even if he won't admit it yet," Hermione explained. She tipped her mug back and finished the rest of her coffee even though Draco was only half way through his.

Draco couldn't think of any way to reply to what Hermione said apart from nodding at her. She smiled and pushed away from the table, taking her cup to the sink to rinse it out. Draco watched her the whole time wondering what else she was going to do or say next that would startle him into speechlessness.

"I'm going to go for now, I've got some things to do before Ron and I go to dinner at the Burrow. Tell Harry he is not to come tonight; he needs to rest and the hecticness there will not help him in the slightest, he can come next week okay?" Hermione explained as she helped herself to some floo powder.

"Okay," Draco said simply and Hermione smiled at him again before waving a couple of fingers at him then stepping into the fire and shooting off home. Draco sat alone at the table going over everything he could in his head. Everything was getting a bit foggy and crowded in his head as he tried to make sense of how he was feeling and what was going on in his life right now. Everything felt much simpler when he was living at home.

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><p>Harry slowly moved down the stairs into the room, steeling himself to put on his calm happy face for Draco and Hermione so that it didn't look like he was actually in quite a bit of pain. The bones the Healers had mended still ached and he didn't remember this feeling from when he was hurt in school. Everything was just automatically back to normal and in perfect working condition when he was healed back then, but it was different now. He ached and he didn't feel like he was steady on his feet a lot of the time, not to mention there was a bit of dizziness and sickness lingering. Apparently this was normal for the severity of his injury and his age and it took longer to heal the older you were. He'd never heard anything so ridiculous in his life and he'd be damned if he let anybody see this.<p>

When he reached the kitchen, Draco was alone staring into the bottom of his coffee mug, eyes glazed over as if he wasn't actually seeing what was in the bottom of it. Harry raised an eyebrow but said nothing, just sat back down in his seat at the table, next to the blonde. Draco looked up, startled, and blinked at him a couple of times.

"Are you alright?" Harry asked.

"Me? I'm fine, are you okay?" Draco asked. He put his mug down and crossed his arms before leaning on them, holding himself up against the table.

"Yeah, I feel fine," Harry lied with a convincing smile. Draco didn't catch the truth in his eyes so he just nodded and looked down at his newspaper. "Where's Hermione?"

"Went home before going to The Burrow," Draco said casually, not reading the words on the page but drifting between his thoughts and Harry again.

"Oh yeah, I should probably get ready for dinner, are you going to the Manor tonight?" Harry said. He didn't want to go to the burrow, all the questions and effort of a Weasley weekly dinner made his stomach turn again, it was the last thing he wanted, he just wanted to curl up on the couch and read his book until he falls asleep, which he was sure wouldn't take long, he felt exhausted.

"Hermione says that you shouldn't be going to dinner tonight, Mrs. Weasley isn't expecting you there and you can go next week. And no, I've already cancelled with mother; I couldn't really face her idle chit chat and endless attempts at trying to hook me up with someone for this ball thing that's coming up."

"Well I guess I could miss this week since Molly isn't expecting me to be there anyway," Harry gave up without a fight, not hearing much past the fact that he could just go next week. "Do you want to get take out for tonight then?"

Draco smiled and Harry already knew the answer, Draco never passed up a chance at take out. They agreed to order Chinese and that Draco would go into town to pick it up since Harry was in no fit state to do so. Even though he did protest a little at that, he didn't make too much of a fuss about it. The rest of the afternoon was spent sitting around in the drawing room reading or chatting idly about random things. Draco didn't let Harry do any work or catch up on paperwork insisting that it would all be there for him in a couple of days and it didn't need done right now.

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><p>The next day Harry woke up later than normal, not having to get up for work did have its perks he supposed and the extra hour in bed was very much welcomed as he had felt exhausted the night before, it was just his body telling him he needed to rest so it could recover. He had expected to walk into an empty kitchen, make some coffee and read the paper but was surprised to find Draco still sat at the table doing the crossword in the back of the Daily Prophet. He looked at his watch to make sure he hadn't actually woken up early and just read the time incorrectly, but it was definitely just after ten.<p>

"What are you doing here?" Harry asked from where he had stopped at the bottom of the stairs, still slightly startled. Draco looked up with a frown as if he was confused by the question.

"Umm, last time I checked I still lived here," Draco said. His top lip twitched which told Harry that he was teasing and that he understood the question perfectly, he was just being difficult.

"Not what I meant and you know it," Harry said finally putting one foot in front of the other and crossing over to make a cup of coffee.

"Didn't I tell you? I just so happen to have this week off from work. I've got Angela looking after the shop apart from Friday and Saturday, but I figured I could just shut those two days. I was sure I mentioned something to you the other day," Draco explained, his head down as he focused back on his paper, avoiding Harry's stare while he waited for the kettle to boil on the stove.

"I don't think you did say anything to me, I'm pretty sure I would have remembered something like that," Harry said. He was suspicious. It seemed like a pretty bog coincidence that Draco just happened to be off on holiday the same week that Harry was off because of his injury. Surely he wouldn't have taken the time off to keep an eye on him though. They weren't that close, where they?

"Maybe you forgot because of your concussion, did the Healers check you for memory loss?" Draco asked casually, still not looking at Harry.

"Well I don't think so. I think I would have forgotten more than just the fact that you were on Holiday this week if it was that," Harry said.

"You never know," Draco said with a sense of finality about the whole thing, making Harry drop the subject even though he didn't particularly want to.

"What do you plan on doing with your days off then?" Harry asked with his back to Draco as he poured the hot water from the kettle into the waiting coffee mug.

"Don't know, I figured I'd just hang out here, unless you had other plans," Draco said casually as if he offered to spend time with him every day.

"I'm pretty sure Hermione has got me on house arrest. If I step outside she'll have a fit. So no, I don't have any other plans," Harry grumbled and turned to join Draco at the table. He pulled the paper out from under Draco's crossword and flipped it to the front page. "There's not a whole lot that we can really do in this house though,"

"Hmm, I was thinking we could maybe decorate. It's just a suggestion and only if you feel like you would be able to," Draco said. Harry looked up from the paper with his eyebrows raised.

"Of course I would be able to! For the last time I am not an invalid!" Harry snapped and shuffled the paper in his hands to get his point across even more.

"Okay, I'm not saying you are, but in case you've forgotten what the Healers told you, you had to take it easy and decorating can be pretty hard going; it can take up a lot of magic and strength," Draco said gently, trying to calm Harry a little, getting worked up also wouldn't help him in the slightest.

"How would you know? I bet you've never decorated in your life," Harry snapped, still on edge.

"I'll have you know, mother got the Manor redecorated every two years and I used to like to help the decorators, I saw how drained they were after doing it," Draco said.

"Oh," Harry said, a little ashamed at being so snappy with Draco. He himself had never decorated much with magic, so by the sounds of it Draco had more experience than he did. "Sorry."

"Yeah, well is it something you want to do? I don't want to decorate if you don't want to; it's your house after all." Draco said. He pushed his half-finished crossword across the table and focused on Harry who was looking around the room with interest.

"I suppose the place could do with a spruce up, it's been the same since I first saw it, pretty much," Harry said as he cringed at the large stain on the ceiling from a certain cooking mishap not long after he had moved in.

"Was that a yes?" Draco asked.

"Yes," Harry said simply and looked at Draco with a smile. Draco grinned back and drained the rest of his cold coffee.

"Great, well it's probably going to take the majority of the week if we're doing the whole house, or even the main rooms that we use. It's a lot of work, we might need some help later on," Draco explained examining the kitchen now too. If they were going to decorate the way he wanted to, then they'd definitely need some help.

"Who did you have in mind to help us?" Harry asked and the tone of his voice made Draco look back to him. He could see the resistance to something in Harry's face and he wondered if that was for what he thought it might be.

"Well anyone you know that knows some basic decorating skills. Blaise and Pansy are hopeless with stuff like that so they're not any use. Do any of your friends know some?" Draco said and just as he thought, at the mention of Blaise and Pansy not being able to do it, the tension ebbed from Harry's features. He knew Harry didn't like his friends but he thought he could at least try to get along and make an effort with them; Draco was doing so with Weasley and Granger.

"Are you kidding, the whole Weasley family is bound to know at least something, we could ask them, and Luna and Neville, they'll probably know a bit too," Harry explained with a smile.

"Great," Draco said and Harry was in too much of a daydream about what decorating with his friends would be like to notice the sarcasm in Draco's voice; either that or he ignored it.

"Of course half of them will have work so it'll just be bits and pieces here and there. I'll go and owl everybody. We could start today and get everyone else involved by tomorrow if they've got time," Harry said. He had already gotten up and was half way to the stairs by the time he was finished speaking.

"Okay. Well, I've got to pick up a few things in town first but we can get started when I get back alright?" Draco said, standing too and snatching his cloak from the hook beside the fireplace after checking the time.

"That's fine."

"Don't start until I get back," Draco called after Harry as he went up the stairs. He didn't get a response but he knew that Harry wouldn't start without him, he wouldn't dare. Meanwhile though he had to go and see Blaise, there was no way he was doing this with a bunch of Gryffindors. Sure, Weasley and Granger were starting to grow on him but the rest of the Weasley clan and Longbottom were a whole other kettle of newts.

* * *

><p>"Hey," Draco said as he closed the door of the cafe and spotted Blaise at their usual window seat.<p>

"You're early, didn't expect you for another half an hour yet," Blaise said as Draco slid into the seat across from him. Pansy wasn't joining them today for lunch, she had a very important meeting apparently.

"Which begs the question, why are you here so early?" Draco asked. The waitress had joined them and Draco asked for a coffee and the soup special. Blaise had already ordered and so the waitress disappeared again.

"I only had a half day today. I almost stood you up and just went home but I figured you'd have some sort of gossip given what happened to Potter over the weekend."

"You almost got stood up too, I've taken the week off of work, needed a break," Draco explained as he picked up a sugar packet and started shaking it for no reason at all except to distract Blaise from his small fib. He wasn't going to admit it to anyone, not Blaise, Harry or even Hermione but he had taken the week off because of Harry. He had made the decision while lying in bed the night before and realized he didn't trust Harry not to just go back to working himself stupid at home while he wasn't there. And he didn't want Harry to get any worse and certainly didn't want him to end back up in hospital.

"When did you decide this?" Blaise asked, sensing the lie there but not being able to understand it.

"A couple of weeks ago, I don't know why nobody can remember me telling them," Draco said rolling his eyes for effect.

"I must not have been paying attention, so what happened with Potter? I heard he was in a coma for a day and everything," Blaise said. He smiled at the waitress that brought over a fresh cup of coffee for him and Draco's first, until she turned away again.

"He wasn't in a coma at all. He's got a slight concussion and has to stay off of work for a while that's all. This is actually why I didn't bail on you today, I've got something to ask," Draco said. He winced as he took a sip of his coffee because it was still a bit too hot and burned his mouth.

"Oh? Like what?" Blaise asked.

"Harry's got this idea of decorating the house while we're both off and he wants to include just about every bloody Gryffindor that he knows. I need some reinforcements on my side; there's no way I'll manage to stay sane if a bunch of Weasley's take over," Draco explained, again bending the truth a little bit. He was getting a little too good at that where Blaise was concerned.

Blaise however didn't hear much past the first word. "Harry?"

Draco sighed. "Yes, Harry. We live together it was bound to happen at some point. It doesn't mean anything," Draco said. "Can we move back to the point I was trying to make?"

Blaise rolled his eyes and crossed his arms before leaning them on the table to keep him up right. "I don't know, that doesn't sound like my idea of fun."

"Yeah, well I was hoping we could be miserable together," Draco said and then took a long sip of coffee, watching Blaise over the top of his mug the whole time.

"I've got work…" Blaise said with a shrug and an attempt at an apologetic smile.

"Well, obviously I don't expect you to be there when you're meant to be at work but I know you have Wednesdays off," Draco said. "Please? Even if it is only for a little while, you'd be helping to keep me sane."

"I've already made plans with Stacey, you know that girl that I've been telling you about? We're spending Wednesday together and I had a bit more in mind than coming round to your house to help you decorate, sorry Draco," Blaise explained. Draco narrowed his eyes but had to keep his lips tightly shut while the waitress gave them their food, Draco his soup and Blaise the sandwich he had ordered before Draco had arrived.

"You're a shit friend you know that?" Draco snapped as he seasoned his soup.

"You're my best friend too, shit head," Blaise said, unabashed by Draco's accusation. The rest of their lunch consisted of Draco moping over the fact that he was going to have to face a house of Weasley's alone and unprepared, while Blaise gushed about the girl from his work that he was in love with. This was not the same girl that he was talking about a couple of weeks before at lunch with Pansy, not even the same girl that he had been out on a date with on Friday. Blaise went through girls and claimed that they were the one, faster than Draco could count, so he didn't pay much attention to him.

* * *

><p>"Good news!" Harry said as soon as Draco stepped through the fireplace, as if he was waiting for Draco to get home.<p>

"Oh?" Draco smiled as he took in Harry's grin and obvious eagerness.

"All the Weasley's are going to be coming round tomorrow. It's Ron's day off so it falls perfectly, Hermione can't make it, she's working but she said she'll help on Wednesday and Neville said he could help Thursday. We should be able to get the majority of it done tomorrow though with all those extra hands, don't you think?" Harry rambled away.

"Yeah, sounds like a plan anyway," Draco said and his smile faltered a little as slight panic started to swirl around in his stomach at the thought of a house full of all of those judging and resentful Weasley's.

"I thought we could do our own rooms today, I didn't think you would want too many people going in and out of your personal space, I know that I don't," Harry said. He got up slowly from the table and stretched while Draco finally hung up the cloak he had been clutching since he had stepped through into the kitchen.

"Yeah, I think that's a good idea. But we'll do the rooms together right? I mean I don't mind you coming into my room, it is your house after all," Draco said he crossed the room to the stairs as Harry shuffled his way over to them too.

"No it's not," Harry said shaking his head, but with a smile.

"What?" Draco said with a frown. Not his house? What? But he'd seen the will and everything…

"It's our house Draco; it's as much your house now as it is mine, you no longer feel much like a lodger," Harry said, his smile brightening at the realization setting in on Draco's face. Ah…

"Right," Draco said and he could feel his cheeks heating up. He reached back and teased the hair at the back of his neck and looked down towards the floor. "So…uhm, who's room will we do first?"

"Your's?" Harry suggested and they started up the stairs to the entrance hallway.

"Sounds good to me."

* * *

><p>"No, no, focus. It's a jab and a flick and think clearly of that color I showed you, I don't want any Duke Blue, I want Federal Blue," Draco said, snatching Harry's wand hand and demonstrating the motions that he had already shown Harry a dozen times.<p>

"Alright, alright, I'm getting it," Harry said through his gritted teeth. His teeth were gritted for two reasons. He was getting annoyed with Draco's constant corrections and criticisms on things he was doing perfectly alright in his eyes and because he had developed a splitting headache that he was trying desperately to ignore.

"Come on Harry, you can do better than this, this is far too light," Draco said pointing at the wall that Harry had been using magic to paint.

"Seriously Draco, I'm going to get you to do this yourself if you don't stop criticizing me like this. It's fine," Harry said.

Draco sighed loudly and turned away from him. He didn't want to do this on his own; there was something about having Harry's company all day to himself that appealed to him greatly. He knew that something was happening on his end of things about his feelings around Harry, he had an incline about what it was but he wanted to be sure before he actually started admitting it to himself.

They had piled all the furniture into the middle of the room to focus on the walls for now and they could focus on reupholstering the furniture later. That if Draco was ever happy with the job that Harry was doing with the color of the walls. He decided to let Harry get on with it for now and he could always fix it later once they were done, he knew he was trying.

Draco had barely gotten around the furniture to the wall with the door out to the hall, across from where Harry was working on the wall with the windows looking out onto the street, when he heard Harry's sharp intake of breath from across the room. He turned back around, aware that Harry wasn't one hundred percent after his accident. Harry had dropped his wand to the floor and one hand was clutching his head. Draco clambered quickly over the bed and the minute he put his hand on Harry's shoulder Harry fell against him, limp and lifeless.

Draco just managed to support Harry's weight without falling back himself, unsteady and unprepared. He looked at Harry's pale and expressionless face and managed to scoop him up and lay him down on his bed. "Fuck," he muttered as he straightened and ran his hand through his hair. His heart was beating hard against his chest and he felt sick with panic. He needed- well he wasn't sure what he needed.

He checked Harry's pulse on his neck, it was there but it felt slow to Draco, although he had never really taken a proper pulse to see what it was supposed to be like. He stood over Harry, watching and willing for him to just get back up. He wasn't sure what to do, should he contact Hermione or Ron? No they would just worry, plus they were at work and he didn't know how to get in touch with them quickly. Should he take him to St. Mungo's? No he didn't feel at ease with moving him, plus he didn't think he would be able to carry him through the floo without causing more damage. He needed to get a Healer here, but he didn't want to leave Harry on his own.

Draco rubbed his hands over his face then through his hair again, it was sticking up all over the place but he barely even noticed let alone cared right now. An idea popped into his head as he looked at the rug that his mother had given him when he moved out. His mother! It wasn't ideal, but she would at least be able to tell him what to do and he wouldn't even have to leave to get in contact, not really.

He scooted over to the fireplace and dropped to his knees scooping a handful of floo powder in one hand. He looked back at Harry who still hadn't moved and was more determined to help him than ever. He threw the powder into the fire and then stuck his head in shouting for the Manor. It took seconds to be transported to the fireplace in the kitchen of the Manor. He coughed a little, mainly to get the feeling of ash out of his mouth and drew the attention of Florence the house elf whom was drinking a cup of tea in the corner of the room.

"Master Draco! Florence was just taking a small break from her cleaning, Florence is here to serve you, what does Master Draco need?" The elf squeaked, clearly a little panicked that he had caught her taking a break. He didn't care, the elves were allowed a break and right now he had more pressing matters on his mind.

"Is Mother home? I need to speak to her immediately," Draco said.

"Yes, Mistress is upstairs, Florence shall go and get her," and the elf scurried off, shouting at the top of her lungs for Draco's Mother. Draco adjusted his position at the other end of the floo, his knees and hands sore from supporting himself on the hearth of the fireplace.

It only took a few minutes before Narcissa was sweeping into the room, worried and pale. "Draco? What's wrong? Are you hurt? Why aren't you at work?" she asked, dropping to her knees beside him and Draco was glad he had come to his mother.

"I'm fine, it's Ha-Potter. He had an accident over the weekend where he-"

"I know. It's been all over the papers, he got home yesterday though didn't he?" his mother said.

"Yeah. We were decorating and he's collapsed and I don't know if his pulse is right or what is wrong with him and I don't know what to do," Draco babbled and he was surprised that his mother just stared at him and didn't ask him to repeat himself. She only stared for a second before standing up to her full height and brushing her knees. Draco thought that she was going to refuse to help because it was Potter, say that it was none of her business and getting involved would not be a good idea.

"Draco, take your head out of the fireplace," she said simply. He blinked at her. She really didn't want to help.

"But mother, I don't know what to do, I don't-" he started to babble again and his breathing got staggered and he was sure he was inhaling more ash than oxygen.

"Dragon, I'm going to help you, so take your head out of the fireplace," she said again, a bit more bite to her tone this time. She reached to the side of Draco and picked something up, when her hand came back into Draco's view he saw it glittering with floo powder. Without another word he pulled his head back out of the Manor and landed with a thump in Grimmauld Place.

He scrambled up and rushed back to Harry's side, there was still no change in him and the panic was rising in his throat. His mother stepped into the room with Florence at her heels only a minute after Draco. Draco looked at her desperately as she took in the surroundings and Harry laid out on the bed.

She strode with her head high over to the opposite side of the bed that Draco was at and sat down on it, so she could examine him. She felt for his pulse and felt his head with the back of her hand, all with a deep frown. She withdrew her wand from her sleeve and waved it over Harry a couple of times, mouthing the words under her breath. She then sighed and looked at Draco.

"Do you have any ammonium carbonate?" she asked Draco and he looked at her blankly.

"I don't know what that is," he admitted and she shook her head slightly.

"No matter, Florence pass me my bag," she said and Draco realized that Florence was carrying the bag that his mother kept all her lotions and potions for keeping herself going, glowing, and young.

She rummaged in the bag for a while before pulling out a very small vile and inspecting it. Once she was satisfied she uncorked it and put it under Harry's nose for just a second. At first Draco didn't think it had worked but then Harry stirred and screwed up his face and the panic and bile that had been rising in Draco's stomach settled.

"Harry," he said gently and clutched his hand without really noticing. Narcissa noticed and lifted an eyebrow as she put away the vile and handed the bag back to Florence but thankfully didn't say anything.

Harry stirred further and blinked open his eyes. He was blinking rapidly and Draco at one point thought that it hadn't quite worked and that he was having some sort of attack but eventually the rapid blinking stopped and Harry focused on Draco. Draco let go of his hand as he noticed he was clutching it and smiled at Harry.

"Are you okay?" Draco asked.

"Uhm, yeah- uh- I think so," Harry said and he rubbed at his forehead, his fingers automatically going for the scar even though it hadn't hurt for years now and he knew it was just a normal headache, or almost normal.

"I think you over did it a little Mr. Potter," Narcissa said, her hands in her lap and still sitting on the bed next to Harry. Harry hadn't even noticed her until she spoke and he jerked slightly, surprised to have her there. Very surprised.

"Ms.- Mrs. Malfoy- I- what? I don't-" Harry babbled looking back desperately at Draco.

"You fainted and I didn't know what to do, I went to the first person I thought could help," Draco shrugged, a slight apology in between the words there. Narcissa gained two inches with pride at being the first person that Draco turned to in a crisis, something she thought he had grown out of past the age of ten.

"Oh, right." Harry said and turned to look at Narcissa again. Their eyes met for a split second and Harry attempted a smile in that time. His head was still thumping and he knew if he were to get up right now he would collapse again.

"I told you this was a bad idea," Draco said.

"When have I ever listened to reason?" Harry replied and Draco chuckled.

"Well I see that I am no longer needed here. Potter, take it easy for the next couple of days, how you thought that you would be able to do this much work only two days after your accident I don't know, and Draco, I can't believe you let him!" Narcissa said standing up from the bed and brushing down her robes.

"He said he could handle it!" Draco said defensively. Harry kept quiet, quite happy to agree with Narcissa, he certainly didn't want to get on the wrong side of her.

"You should have known better than to think he wasn't just trying to be modest and stronger than he actually was," Narcissa said. Harry sunk down further on the bed, trying to keep the attention off of him while this little family dispute was going on. Draco however, seemed to notice Harry's discomfort and so stopped there.

"Yes Mother," he said. He stood and walked with her over to the fireplace, Florence the house elf following in their footsteps.

"I shall see you on Sunday for dinner," Narcissa said courtly and Draco nodded and handed her the pot of floo powder.

Harry watched as she disappeared among the flames and Draco took a second before he turned back to him. Harry smiled slightly and Draco shrugged. "Sorry about her, I really didn't know who else to go to."

"That's okay," Harry said softly.

"Are you okay? You scared me a bit," Draco admitted.

"I'm fine, I just don't think I should really do much more today, I'm a bit light headed," Harry said.

"You've not been steady on your feet all day have you?" Draco asked in such a tone that Harry felt compelled to tell him the truth, it just sounded like Draco was really quite concerned.

"Not really, no," Harry said.

"You're your own worst enemy," Draco said, shaking his head but sharing a small smile with him, like he really understood why though. It was a pride thing.

"That's not the first time I've heard that," Harry said. Draco shook his head and sat down at the end of his bed, at Harry's feet.

"We'll take a break and then I can start again and you can rest some more," Draco told him.

"I still want to help," Harry said a little desperately, he didn't want to be left out of this just because his head couldn't handle the stress yet.

"Maybe tomorrow, you can make the tea and refreshments, you've got plenty of mouths to feed tomorrow with all those Weasley's hanging around." Draco suggested and Harry scowled at him.

"Not quite what I had in mind,"

"Take it or leave it. You're lucky I'm not locking you in your room until we can agree that you're ready," Draco told him Harry rolled his eyes, but didn't argue any further just in case Draco did put that idea into action. He supposed he could handle being the tea maker for a couple of days.


	9. Chapter 9

Sorry this took so long, between writing it and beta-ing it everything was a little delayed, but it's fine, it's here now and the next one might follow sooner if I get my butt in gear and write a bit more and a bit quicker. Thanks as always to everyone who reads this and of course to my beta Pure Hearted Tyrant, she's wonderful :) Cheers, enjoy!

* * *

><p>The next day, Harry had never felt so useless in his whole life. He had spent the majority of the morning making tea, baking cakes and scones, and making sandwiches, all in his own time and ready to be served whenever the Weasley's and Draco required them. This was okay and had kept him busy for a while, but once he had done all of that –which really didn't take him that long, even at a slower than normal pace, since Draco had forbidden him to use too much magic– he found himself sat at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee and the newspaper, a little bit bored.<p>

The Weasley's arrived about an hour before hand, which had included Ron, Molly, Arthur, George, Bill, and Ginny. They had got to work with Draco as soon as possible, focusing on the drawing room and the dining room for now. Harry had wanted to watch and to give pointers, but Draco insisted that he keep away so that he wouldn't get too worked up. Ron and Molly had enthusiastically agreed. He could have hexed them, Ron especially; he had never agreed with Draco about anything until now.

Needless to say, much to Harry's dismay, Draco had informed all of the Weasley's about Harry's little turn the day before, to explain why he wouldn't be helping today. All of them had been taken aback considering, as far as they had been concerned, Harry wasn't feeling any affects to what happened at all, so they had all agreed that it was best Harry stay in the kitchen and make the sandwiches, like a good little house elf, George's words not his.

Harry had just folded up his newspaper when Molly turned up at the bottom of the stairs, speckled with paint and patches of dust on her clothes. She smiled wildly at Harry and plodded over to join opposite him at the kitchen table.

"How are you feeling?" Molly asked as she waved a hand behind her and waited for a cup to find its way into it. She then took the pot of coffee from between them and filled her cup.

"Useless," Harry huffed, crossing his arms over his chest and reminding Molly of when her children sat at the kitchen table and huffed when they were younger. The memory made her smile fondly.

"It's for your own good. Draco and the rest of us don't want you to do yourself more damage than you already have," Molly said.

"I know, I realize that, but it doesn't stop me from feeling like an extra part. I want to be in the middle of things, helping with the important things," Harry said, and he stared at his coffee mug as if it was the root of all of his problems and was the reason why he felt the way he did about it all.

"That's because you're built that way Harry, but every now and then you have to step back and realize that actually this way is the better way for you."

"Hmm," was all Harry responded with because he knew that if he was to say anything else he would start to get worked up and not make the situation any better.

"Have you prepared everything? I could help."

"Nah, I've done everything, it didn't take long."

"Well then we can just sit and talk, it's been a while since we've had a chance to sit and chat, just you and me," Molly suggested and finally got a look up from Harry and his shoulders even started to relax, she had eventually found the right thing to say to get him out of his funk.

"Yeah, it has been a while," Harry said. He shuffled in his seat and uncrossed his arms to lean on the table in front of him to be able to look at Molly a little better, he even smiled a little.

"What do you want to talk about? We won't be disturbed, the rest of them are still very much busy with cleaning and stripping the old wallpaper and paint, it'll take them a while longer yet," Molly said, reassuring him and hoping to encourage him to speak about whatever he wanted to.

"I don't know, I can't think of anything that has really been bothering me or that you don't already know."

"Well what about Draco? I can't help but notice how close the two of you are now."

"I don't have much to say about Draco. He's just Draco; he's just around," Harry said with a shrug and a slight frown as he tried to think about what to say about Draco. He took a sip of his coffee and frowned harder.

That was a subject that he had been pushing out of the way for quite some time. Every now and then a thought would creep in to the forefront of his mind and he would barely even acknowledge it before he pushed it back to focus on later. There was always something else that was more important at the time to concentrate on and the Draco thought was forgotten about.

"Are you sure? It doesn't seem like that from where I'm sitting," Molly said softly and Harry took a second to meet her gaze before looking into his coffee mug.

"Yeah, I mean, what is there to think about him for? He's just Draco, he's just someone that I used to hate, that I now can kind of stand and is kind of my friend that I live with-" Harry said and stopped suddenly, his train of thought running out of steam as he realized just what he was saying.

"That sentence didn't sound as if it was quite finished," Molly prodded.

Harry frowned to himself and saw what she meant. What was Draco to him anyway? Was he a friend? Well, not really, he didn't have the same friend feelings towards Draco as he did towards Ron and Hermione. It wasn't even the same kind of friend feelings that he felt towards people like Seamus and Dean and Luna, the ones he only saw on occasion. It was a strange feeling and he couldn't place it and it started to irritatingly scratch away at him. He got the sinking suspicion that now that he had addressed these thoughts he wouldn't be able to ignore them.

"I don't know. Draco's just Draco," Harry said again, coming up with no better way to explain how he saw him. He did know that his head had started to hurt and that was bound to be a bad sign.

"Do you feel differently towards him than you used to?" Molly asked.

"Yes. Yes, of course. I used to hate him, in school, now I-I don't know, I get on with him?" Harry said and it turned into more of a question and he looked at Molly for the answer.

"I don't know why you're asking me, you're the one that should know," Molly said smiling softly at him. She was looking at him with a certain emotion in her eyes that Harry had yet to identify and it was disconcerting him. Harry was starting to wish they had never started this conversation. "Harry, do you think that maybe, you have some feelings towards him?"

"What?!" Harry blinked and sat back, startled that she would even think that. He hadn't been thinking that. Not at all. No that couldn't be right at all. "No! No, he's Draco,"

"See, you keep saying that as if it means something, but I don't know whether you or I really understand it," Molly said and she sighed. Harry realized what the emotion that she was feeling towards him was. Pity. He narrowed his eyes at her but she wasn't finished.

"I don't want to be putting ideas in your head, but I couldn't help but notice the change in you when you're around him. It's a good change and I won't go into details about it, but maybe you should just make yourself aware of it from now on," Molly said. Harry blinked at her and tried to figure out how to understand what she meant. She stood up from the table and pushed her chair in.

"Molly, I think you've got the wrong idea. I don't like him like that, I know that much. I just don't know what kind of friend he is, that's all. I've never had a friend that has gone into the category Draco is in if that makes sense," Harry tried to explain but was worried he was just starting to confuse things.

"I think it makes more sense than you think it does, you just need to think on that for a while and you'll realize," Molly said. She turned and headed for the stairs. "I'll just let everyone know that they can come down for sandwiches and tea now, alright?"

Harry sat and blinked after her, his mouth open as a rush of thoughts and emotions came pushing forward to the front of his brain. Before he could properly think about any of them, Draco appeared at the bottom of the stairs where Harry had been staring after Molly and all these new thoughts appeared.

Only the thoughts weren't really new. They were all the ones that he hadn't had time to focus on before, like the way that Draco's hair caught the light in that way that made his whole face brighten. The way he swept his tongue over his bottom lip just before he would smile like he was doing towards Harry right now, and why was he noticing these little traits about him all the time?

Harry sat up straight as the realization hit him square in the chest and he felt the air struggling to reach his lungs. Draco was speaking to him, but Harry wasn't paying the slightest bit of attention, even though he was sat watching the man's lips move. He had feelings for Draco.

He didn't know exactly what these feelings were, but they were there and they weren't going anywhere any time soon. While he was trying to mentally figure it all out, Draco was standing in front of him waving his hand in front of his face. It wasn't until he sent a mild stinging hex at him that Harry finally came back to focusing on what he was asking him.

"You alright?" Draco asked, his forehead deep in a frown, concerned that even making the tea and sandwiches had been too much for Harry's head to cope with.

"Uhm, yeah, just uhm, a headache," Harry said, touching his forehead briefly and standing up from the table. "Sandwiches are more tasking than I thought, I think I might just go upstairs and have a lie down."

"Are you sure? Maybe you should take some food up with you, it might help," Draco said, he stepped forward, summoning a plate as he went and started putting some sandwiches on it for Harry.

"Yeah, yeah maybe," Harry said nodding even though his mouth felt too dry to eat anything right now. He took the plate that Draco held out for him anyway and pushed the chair he had been sitting on under the table.

"If you need anything just shout," Draco said. He studied Harry's face with concern and barely took his eyes off of him as he crossed the room.

"Okay, thanks," Harry said. He put his head down and got out of there as quick as he could, not running up the stairs because his head was actually really starting to throb, but taking them two at a time.

Harry had feelings for Draco, and he had no idea how he felt about that or what to do with the blasted things.

* * *

><p>Harry had only been hiding out in his room for all of about ten minutes before someone knocked on the door and entered before he could tell them to piss off and leave him alone. Not that they would have heard him anyway considering he had buried his head into his pillow like a sixteen year old girl trying to block out the rest of the world because it was being just too cruel.<p>

"Hey, what's up with you?" Ron asked once he had taken in Harry's position and closed the door behind him, casting a quick silencing charm on it at the same time. He figured they would need it if Harry was being an emotional sixteen year old today instead of the twenty-four year old he actually was.

Harry mumbled into the pillow and Ron rolled his eyes. He pushed Harry's legs out of the way and sat down on the bed next to him. "I don't understand your kind of pillow talk, is this about not being able to help decorating? Because if it is that, trust me you've got the good end of the deal. Do you know how particular Draco is about his choice of colors?"

Harry flipped round onto his back but kept an arm draped over his eyes so that he didn't have to look at Ron when he said what he did next.

"I know, I learnt that the hard way last night, but it's not about the decorating," Harry said.

"Well, what' w'ong den?" Ron said, his speech muffled, causing Harry to peek out from under his arm. It shouldn't have come to a surprise that Ron had stolen a sandwich from the untouched plate on Harry's bedside cabinet, and had just taken a substantial bite of it.

"Ugh. I think I have feelings for Draco," Harry said. He peeked from under his arm again and Ron was looking at him with his mouth slightly open, giving him a nice view of his half chewed ham and cheese sandwich.

"Ew, mate," Harry said and kicked him in the hip with his foot. Ron closed his mouth chewed and swallowed while Harry sat up on the bed and ran his hands through his hair. He propped himself up on the pillows and crossed his ankles, waiting for Ron's response.

"Okay," Ron said slowly and inspected his sandwich as if trying to figure out where to bite into next.

"Okay? Is that it? Because I was really expecting a bit more than just 'okay' from you of all people."

"What did you expect me to say?" Ron asked, finally putting his sandwich down on Harry's bed and looking at him, clearly having lost his appetite, something almost unheard of in Ron's case.

"Not just an okay. I at least expect you to tell me how much of a git he is and how could I possibly have feelings for him?" Harry said.

"He is a git. But he's a bit of a likable git to be honest with you, nothing like when we were at Hogwarts, not anymore," Ron said.

"So are you telling me that it is okay that I have feelings for Draco Malfoy?" Harry asked, and he squinted at Ron trying to figure out if this was actually Ron or if somehow his best friend had had some sort of personality transplant or if this was someone polyjuiced as Ron.

"Do you want me to tell you that it's not okay to have feelings for him? Because I'm not going to do that. Plus, even if I did have a problem with it, why would that ever stop you from acting on it anyway? It's your choice Harry, not mine," Ron said.

Harry was taken aback. Out of everyone, he would have thought that Ron would be the one that would have the biggest freak out over Harry liking Draco.

"This isn't freaking you out?" Harry asked skeptically.

"No," Ron said with a slight frown in his brow.

"But why? This is freaking the hell out of me!" Harry exclaimed.

"Why?"

"I-I don't know. I never imagined out of anyone that I would develop feelings for Draco Malfoy for fucks sake! What's wrong with me?" Harry said, taking a fistful of his hair and pulled. This did nothing to help the headache that had started to form downstairs and was still growing.

"For fucks sake Harry, get over it. There is nothing wrong with you and there is nothing wrong with liking Draco," Ron rolled his eyes and then straightened up and focused Harry with a determined stare. "I don't think this is actually the issue here is it?" Ron asked and Harry frowned. "You're not really worried about liking Draco, not as much as you are making out to be anyway, you're worried about liking anyone."

"What? Don't be ridiculous," Harry said.

"No, no I'm not. Harry, when are you going to let yourself actually open up and develop feelings and a relationship with someone?" Ron asked.

Harry didn't respond, he didn't really know how to. No one had really outright asked him anything like that before; it had always just been skirted around. Everyone knew the issue was there but no one had addressed it before now.

"Look Harry, I understand. I understand that it's difficult for you to get emotionally attached to anyone and it's easier not to, but it's not healthy. It's really not and I'm not the only one that is concerned about you," Ron said a little softer this time.

Harry continued to be unable to find the right words to respond to Ron and instead just sat there propped up on pillows and staring at his best friend as if he was seeing him for the first time. Technically this side of him he was seeing for the first time, Ron had never been the one to open up to and talk to about these kinds of things; that was what Hermione was for.

"I'll leave you to have a little think about your feelings and make sure no one comes up to bother you. Talk to me when you're ready, or even better, talk to Draco. It'll help, trust me," Ron said. He patted Harry's leg and stood up, snatching up his sandwich as he did so and silently left with a last look over his shoulder at Harry.

Harry continued to stare at the door for a good while longer while thoughts went through his head at a mile a minute. He had a lot to think about, apparently.

Molly wanted him to think about his feelings for Draco and think about how he felt when he was around the other man because apparently this would make everything clear to him. Ron wasn't freaking out about his revelation and was advising him to man up and just let himself have feelings for anybody, Draco Malfoy or not. At this point he just wanted to sleep and have everything answered for him when he woke up.

* * *

><p>Harry didn't get any sleep. Instead, he ate half a sandwich and ventured out of his room and into the Drawing Room where Ginny, George, Bill and Arthur were all stripping wallpaper with their wands. He had wanted to walk in on Draco, to study him and see if these feelings were actually worth something or if they were just in his imagination or not going to last. He was going to walk out again and go to the Dining Room instead to find him, but Ginny spotted him before he could, smiled at him and gestured him inside.<p>

"Harry! Come to give us painting pointers like Malfoy, have you?" she said with a smirk over at George.

"Not quite," Harry said with a smile and stepped into the room to take it in. All of the furniture was gathered in the middle of the room and covered in sheets and the once stained and dull green walls were now stripped back to white with flaking pieces of paper on them. Of course the Black family tapestry still stubbornly covered one of the walls but Harry didn't mind so much, he barely even noticed it was there anymore.

"Good, didn't want to have to punch you in the face," George commented.

"Now, George," Arthur said, sternly giving him a wary look, "he's not been that bad."

George mumbled an apology and focused back on the wall he was rubbing down by hand to get all the flaky bits off, but Harry could tell by the face he made that he really wasn't sorry at all; clearly it was a little difficult for him to get on with Draco.

"Don't worry, I understand the feeling. He was extremely picky about the color of his bedroom too," Harry said as he sat down in the middle of the room, on what he assumed was one of the desks but couldn't be completely sure considering there was a sheet covering it. It was comfortable enough so there was no reason to complain.

"He obviously just knows what he likes," Arthur tried to justify and while George, Ginny and Bill rolled their eyes with smirks at each other Harry studied Arthur's face.

He had a deep look of concentration on his face as he brought his arm up and down over and over again, stripping off the layers of wallpaper until he got to grey cold stone. It was hard for Harry to deceiver, but he was fairly certain that he knew. That Molly had shared her findings with him at some point, either today or beforehand. Harry found he wasn't angry about it though, just skeptical.

"Yeah, I guess he does," Harry said with a small nod and Arthur looked at him for a second before re-focusing his attention on the wall and his wand again before he made a mistake.

"How are you feeling anyway Harry?" Bill asked, changing the subject, for which Harry was thankful for.

"Fine, had a bit of a sore head, but I ate something and seem to be doing better now," Harry shrugged, lying a little since his headache was still lingering a bit.

"You're sandwich making was perfect by the way, your talents were much better spent there than decorating," Ginny said.

"What's wrong with my decorating?" Harry asked with a frown.

"Oh please Harry, you've never been good at it and you know it," Ginny said.

Harry scowled at her and stood up. "I resent that," he said crossing his arms. She was technically right but he was sensing an opening to be able to get out of the room without too much of an excuse.

"Stop teasing him Gin," Bill said, "I'm sure your decorating skills have greatly improved since you helped decorate Ron and Hermione's house," and he made a face at the clear memory of the spare bedroom in Ron and Hermione's house that gives off the impression of being on a slant, considering all the paper is slanted slightly, thanks to Harry's decorating skills.

"Thanks a bunch guys," Harry said sarcastically.

"Hey, I gave you a complement too," Ginny said. She withdrew her wand from her task as she finally finished up the wall she was on and turned to face him. She grinned at him and he couldn't stop himself smiling back, her grin was infectious, it always had been.

"Yeah, well, I'm not sticking around to get insulted, I'll go and see how the others are getting on instead," Harry said. He smiled when they turned to make sure that they knew he wasn't actually angry with them and turned out of the room. He wandered down the hall and down the stairs and turned into the Dining room. Again he stepped into something he didn't expect.

He had expected Ron, Draco and Molly all to be stripping wallpaper like the rest were doing upstairs, but instead he walked into just Draco, who stood on the top of a step ladder and was carefully painting a gold pattern around the top of the already painted dark blue walls, some sort of border.

He was so completely engrossed in what he was doing that he hadn't heard Harry push the door open, even though it had creaked rather loudly and he was humming quietly under his breath. His back was to Harry, but even though he couldn't see his face, Harry knew that he was deep in concentration and that his tongue was probably perched on the edge of his lips.

Harry cleared his throat, so he didn't startle Draco too much by just starting to talk and make him loose his focus. Draco barely flinched and carried on as he was.

"I know you're there Harry, I heard you coming down the stairs and into the room. Now quiet, I'm concentrating," Draco said and Harry raised his eyebrows.

"How'd you know it was me though?" Harry asked.

"Your step is different from a Weasley's and since our house is full of them at the moment, you were the only other option," Draco said, his voice echoing against the wall he was painting since he was too close to it to concentrate properly. Harry felt an unexplainable tug at the pit of his stomach and he wasn't sure if he liked it or what it could have been the result of. He had an idea, but he wasn't going there too soon.

"Where are Ron and Molly anyway?" Harry asked as he stepped further into the room, looking around him. The walls were now a very dark navy blue, on the border of being black if he was honest, but beautiful all the same, especially with the gold swirling pattern that Draco was doing free hand – or rather free wand – around the top that he was about half way done.

"They're downstairs, picking out a suitable color of carpet that I've given them examples of; they were getting in the way up here," Draco said. There was a slight strain in his voice, as if speaking to Harry was a major inconvenience right now and Harry guessed it probably was as he was concentrating so hard.

"Oh okay," Harry said. He ran his hands over the obvious shape of the dining table under the large sheet covering it and the chairs and the large unit. He wanted to sit down and just quietly observe and maybe address the questions and feelings roaming around his body, but he didn't want to disturb the blonde.

"I'll leave you to it, I don't want to get in the way too," Harry said softly. He got to the door handle and reached for it before Draco spoke.

"No, it's okay, it doesn't bother me being in the same room as you. You can stay if you want," Draco said and leant back from the wall, turning to face Harry for the first time since he had entered the room, and climbed down the step ladder.

Harry smiled because Draco's face was speckled in blue and gold paint. Something about it reminded him of astronomy lessons and looking at the stars through the telescope. He wasn't even sure how it reminded him of that, but it did. After he had finished studying Draco's face like he was studying stars, he realized that Draco was smiling back at him.

"What's so funny?" Draco asked as he dipped his gaze and moved the step ladder, lining up with where he had stopped painting his pretty pattern.

"Nothing, you've just got some stuff on your face," Harry said, waving a general hand over his own face.

Draco rolled his eyes and climbed back up the step ladder and smiled down at Harry. "I know, I don't see the point in charming it off until I'm finished."

"Quite right," Harry said. He moved away from the door and pulled out a chair from the sheet covering the furniture and settled down on it, propping his feet up on the table as Draco returned to what he was doing. "I wish I could help," Harry said quietly.

"Yes, well I don't fancy another trip to St Mungo's so you're just going to have to put up with taking it easy over the next couple of days," Draco said, a little sterner than Harry thought was really necessary, but he didn't comment on it. "How are you feeling anyway?"

"Fine, my headache is lingering, but I've eaten so I'll be fine," Harry said.

"Did you get any sleep while you were upstairs?" Draco asked.

"A bit," Harry lied and looked down at his hands before taking a deep breath and leaning back in his chair, just because he felt like he needed it.

He looked back to Draco, finding his eyes traveling slowly up from the other man's shoes perched on the third step up the step ladder. They were leather; of course, Harry wasn't sure if Draco really owned normal clothes that weren't twice as expensive as anything Harry had ever bought for himself. He was wearing jeans however, which was rare but not unheard of when they were just in the house. Of course Draco wore either robes or suits outside of the house, but every now and then Harry saw him in jeans but he was sure he only had two pairs. This pair was tight and dark blue, they were a little dusty from the stripping of wallpaper but apart from that immaculate. Harry's eyes lingered on his long legs and where the jeans pulled over the back of his thighs and around his ass and-

He had to look back down at his hands and swallowed hard. Apparently, his brain thought it was appropriate to throw in a couple of impure thoughts in with the jumbled confusing ones he was already having and, well that wasn't going to help anybody with anything. Unfortunately, he wasn't sure for whom yet, he was a very curious person and he couldn't stop himself from returning his gaze exactly where he had left off.

Draco had lifted one foot up a step while Harry had looked away and he could make out the curve of one of his ass cheeks even clearer in those tight jeans and his mind went there again. To Draco's ass. And then to wondering if those jeans were just as tight around his crotch when his leg was in that position and what he would be able to see if he was on the other side of the ladder, and then suddenly there was a serious problem arising in his own jeans.

"Are the Weasley's upstairs finished stripping the walls yet? There was a lot more to get through in there than in here and I think that room was more stubborn about being changed than this one," Draco asked casually, oblivious as to what was going on behind him.

Harry cleared his throat and shifted in his chair, trying to pull his jeans away from his crotch but only creating more friction and not helping himself out at all. "They were just finishing up when I was up there, the tapestry still hasn't budged though," he said, trying desperately to divert his attention from Draco and to something a lot less appealing. Speaking about the tapestry let his thoughts travel to Mrs. Black and that was doing the trick nicely as long as he kept his eyes off of Draco's legs and ass.

"Didn't really expect it to, there will be no removing it if Molly was right about the sticking charm, it's permanent," Draco shrugged.

"I don't mind, I barely notice it and think I'd probably miss it if it wasn't there anymore," Harry said, he had scrunched his eyes shut and focused on Mrs. Black and her screaming and shouting insults at him, he was getting back out of the slight state of arousal he had found himself in and back to normal.

"There's not much you could do about it even if you did though, is there? I picked some colors and patterns out that would help it blend in though, so that's something at least," Draco shrugged. He stepped down the step ladder again and shuffled it backwards, now at the end of the second last wall.

"Yeah," Harry nodded, having opened his eyes again at the sound of the step ladder creaking. Draco had pursed his lips when he had seen Harry's feet up on the covered Dining table but didn't say anything. Harry saw it but didn't react to it either; it was his table after all.

"Harry?" a voice said from behind him at the door and he realized he hadn't even heard the door open as he and Draco turned to the person. His assistant Natasha had poked her head around the door with a bright smile and stepped inside the room. She was dressed in dungarees and a white t-shirt and was clearly there to help.

"Hey," Harry said fondly, standing up from his position and going over. Natasha hugged him to her immediately and tightly.

"I was missing you at work so once I finished what I needed to do, I thought I'd come and see how you were and if I could help with the decorating," she said over his shoulder and then let go of him.

"Aw, well that's nice of you," Harry said.

"Looks like it's coming on great in here," Natasha said, stepping past Harry and further into the room, looking around her. She spotted Draco over at the other end of the room and smiled at him. He smiled back after a second of hesitation, knowing that he had met her before but having trouble picking up where.

"Hey, nice to see you again Mr. Malfoy, nice to see you've settled in," Natasha said. Draco nodded as he finally pieced it together, she was Harry's assistant and had interviewed him for the housemate advert, he had liked her, and she was kind enough.

"And you. Good to have another set of hands to help out," Draco said.

"Definitely, can I give you a hand in here?" Natasha asked and she moved around the furniture in the middle of the room and looked up at the patterned border.

"Oh I don't think-" Draco started to protest, he hadn't let Ron and Molly help him with this part of the decorating because he knew they weren't skilled enough to not make any mistakes with his pattern and it was his little project.

"Oh come on Draco, you won't let me lift a finger to help at all, at least let my assistant do something? It's basically the same thing," Harry said, cutting off Draco's protest. He wanted to go and get a coffee and something else to eat and liked the idea of leaving Natasha there with Draco instead of her getting in his way and asking too many questions about what had happened at the weekend and if he was really okay.

Natasha grinned widely at Draco and even though Harry could see the reservation in Draco's face he already knew that he would cave. Within seconds Draco had sighed and nodded.

"You can start doing the same pattern but at the bottom, an inch above the skirting boards and not a millimeter more alright? And it has to reflect my pattern exactly," Draco said, speaking very purposefully. Natasha nodded enthusiastically and withdrew her wand.

Harry smiled at the pair and walked over to the door. "I'm going to see how everyone else is getting on," Harry said and after he received a nod from both of them left the room and closed the door. He was still not quite ready to face Ron and Molly after their very recent conversations and so he went back upstairs to his room to eat some more of the sandwiches that he had brought up earlier and tried to very timidly think about Draco and everything he had learnt about his feelings towards him in those few minutes they had just spent together.

* * *

><p>"So how are things going with your living arrangements with Harry?" Natasha asked from where she knelt on the floor, painting Draco's pattern very slowly so that she knew she was getting it right.<p>

"They're going fine, thank you," Draco said, frowning, not at his painting but at her question; he wasn't entirely sure why she was interested in how he felt about it, considering they barely knew each other.

"Glad you moved in then?" Natasha said, her voice quiet as she focused and leant closer to the wall.

"I-uh guess so," Draco said and abruptly leant back as he came to this realization. He hadn't thought about it like that, but he guessed he was glad he had moved in with Harry, he was happy living with him.

"Good. I can tell Harry is happy too. Sometimes you're all he talks about at work," Natasha said. Draco looked over at the other side of the room where she was in the corner, focusing. It was clear that she was speaking without really thinking about it first, and while that was okay, it kind of wasn't if this was what she was telling him.

"Really?" he said as casually as he can, as if he isn't interested so he doesn't draw attention to what she's sharing before she can stop.

"Yeah, nothing bad either, we'll just be talking and he'll suddenly go "Oh the other day Draco and I..." kind of sweet really, I think he's grown to think of you as a friend," Natasha said. She was more aware of what she was talking about than she was letting on. Someone needed to tell Draco these things; this was part of her whole plan of coming over in the first place.

"I see," Draco said, turning back to the wall and his half-finished patter, but all he could do was stand and blink at it.

This shouldn't have come as a surprise. He and Harry were friends, they both knew that, but hearing someone else say that somehow made it sink in a little more. He was friends with Harry Potter. But now that he was thinking about it, the thought didn't sit right with him. This felt like a different kind of friendship than the one he had with Blaise and Pansy. Perhaps it was because Harry was a Gryffindor. It didn't feel that way though; no, that wasn't it. It was something else.

Natasha stopped talking and Draco stopped listening anyway and focused back on his pattern, to keep his mind focused and away from trying to define his relationship with Harry, he could think about that later. Much later.

* * *

><p>"Here you go," Harry said, gently handing Draco the cup of coffee he had brought up for him. Draco took it carefully by the rim and the handle and smiled from where he sat on the newly refurbished sofa.<p>

Harry carefully sat down next to him and tucked his legs up on the couch, blowing around the rim of his own cup of coffee. He took a sip and sank further back into the cushions, looking around the drawing room with a smile.

The walls were now a fresh moss green that was painted in a way that made the walls look surprisingly a lot like moss. The tapestry had been freshened up a bit too. Since they couldn't remove it, Draco had sent a variety of cleaning and sprucing charms at it and had gotten rid of the majority of the dust that had collected in it and it had listened considerably, now blending with the rest of the room quite well. The carpets had been stripped and the floorboards cleaned and varnished and the furniture had all been either refurnished or replaced. The tapestry wall was free of furniture; the newly renovated brown fabric couch was faced towards the fireplace with two matching chairs on either side and a low mahogany table sat between the fireplace and the couch. There was a new mahogany unit over on the same wall as the window, opposite the tapestry that held a variety of Draco and Harry's trinkets, awards and medals. There was a new mahogany desk on the same wall as the door into the room that was actually being used as a bar, displaying glasses and bottles of firewhisky and other alcohol. The room was no longer musty and dark and dull. It was now considered cozy.

They were finally done. Or rather Draco was, Harry only really came in at the end to help with the furniture since that was the only thing Draco let him do all week. With the Weasley's helping, they had finished off the Drawing Room, Dining room and each hallway and stair case by the end of Tuesday with the exception of the furniture. Harry had insisted that he was okay by Thursday, when Neville and Hermione had come round to help them out. Hermione and Draco had both insisted that he could not decorate the Kitchen or the Study, but had compromised and let him help Neville with the refurbishments of the furniture, which was a little bit less taxing on his magic. Hermione had moved her helping day from Wednesday to Thursday because she had had to change her day off after something came up at work, so Draco had been working on his own room on his alone on Wednesday as it was still half finished from Monday.

It was now Friday and Draco had finally let Harry help decorate, but mainly because it was his own room and he couldn't really argue about that without being an arse about it. Draco supervised him the whole time and had finished off the rest of the furniture that had to be refurbished around the house. It was now all done and felt fresh and a lot more like it was theirs, rather than just a place to live, making Harry wonder why he hadn't done it sooner.

"Ugh, I feel more exhausted after having a week's holiday from work than if I'd been at work, there's something not right about that," Draco said. He too was sinking into the cushions of the couch, with his legs tucked underneath him and sipping on his coffee slowly.

"Well if you'd let me help sooner you wouldn't be; I told you I could handle it," Harry said.

"I wasn't taking the risk, and Hermione would have had my balls in a jar for letting you help any sooner than I did," Draco said matter of factualy and Harry had no problem in believing him.

"I'm glad that we did this, it was badly needing done and it looks good now, not just liveable anymore, it looks lived in and cared for now," Harry said and met Draco's eyes as he looked across at him, they smiled at each other.

"Yeah, me too, even if it did mean hanging out with a load of Weasley's all week," Draco said. Harry reached out with his foot and prodded Draco's calf with his toes.

"Oh, please, you don't mind them that much, I think you and Ron are actually growing to like each other," Harry said.

"You can't prove anything," Draco said, still smiling even as he sipped his coffee.

"Ha! Knew it," Harry laughed and sipped triumphantly at his own coffee, seeing Draco's lack of denial as his own proof.

"So maybe Granger and Ron are starting to grow on me a little, if you say anything I'll deny all knowledge though," Draco said with a threatening finger.

Harry stretched his legs out along the couch, his feet resting on Draco's thighs. Draco looked at them and then at Harry with a questioning eyebrow lift but Harry just shrugged at him. "Don't worry, I won't say anything," Harry said.

Draco continued not to say anything but looked away from him and into the fire. He wasn't sure what Harry was promising not to say anything about, what Draco had said or that he currently had his feet in his lap. Now he didn't really know what to do with himself, especially his hands. Eventually he settled on just keeping his elbows tucked in and holding his coffee cup.

"I like that we-" Harry started then paused, leaving Draco to wait for him to finish. When after a few more seconds and he didn't continue, Draco turned to him and saw that Harry was frowning into his mug, his fingers tracing the rim.

"Are you going to finish that sentence?" he asked with a slight smile. He let one hand fall from his cup and rested it on Harry's ankle.

Harry's foot jerked at the hand on his ankle, but he didn't withdraw his feet. "I'm glad you moved in," Harry said and looked up at him with a small smile.

"Yeah, so am I," Draco nodded and finished the rest of his coffee. He put the mug down on the coffee table and sank back into the cushions. He turned slightly to face Harry and rested both hands on his ankles now.

"I'd even go as far as to say that we are close friends," Harry said softly and bit down on his bottom lip as Draco stared at him.

"I think that would be a fair assumption," Draco said. Harry nodded and settled back into the cushions even further and his eyes fluttered slightly. He was just as tired as Draco was and the couch was so comfortable.

They continued to look at each other every now and then and into the fire and shared little conversations here and there until it all kind of fizzled out and their eyes started to close. They fell asleep together in almost no time at all.

* * *

><p>"Harry, Harry wake up," Harry heard somewhere above him and he wondered how Hermione had gotten into his room to disturb him. He blinked his eyes open a little, squinting in the light that was streaming in from the open curtains.<p>

He looked up at Hermione leaning over him with a small smile on her face and took in the situation he was in. He and Draco had fallen asleep on the couch and he found that their legs had tangled together at some point during the night. He looked down at the other end of the couch where Draco was curled up and still asleep. Oh dear.

"Uh," Harry started, though he really had no idea where to go from there.

"Uhm, a word please Harry? In the kitchen?" Hermione said quietly and she was already gone before Harry could respond. He carefully withdrew his feet and legs from the tangle they were in with Draco's and got up from the couch, stretching tall. There was a pain in his neck and he was really starting to regret ever thinking the couch was comfortable.

He took his time in going down the stairs, trying to think how he was going to explain this to Hermione. Was he going to have to open up about everything he had been feeling and thinking about? Probably. He assumed Ron had already told her about the conversation they had had on Tuesday. Then again, she hadn't mentioned anything when she was over helping to decorate, but that might have had something to do with the fact that Harry made sure he was never alone with her. It was now inevitable.

When Harry entered the kitchen, Hermione was rested against the table with her arms crossed. He swallowed hard and spread his arms out wide, as if to say that he was ready for anything she was going to throw at him.

"Explain," was all Hermione said. Harry sighed and walked over to the kettle to make some coffee. They would both definitely need it.

* * *

><p>Draco woke up with a slight shiver and realized he felt cold. He turned on his back and stretched his legs out. It was only then that he realized he wasn't in his bed. He opened his eyes and slowly remembered how he had fallen asleep with Harry on the couch. Harry was now no longer there and he wondered if he had gotten up during the night and gone to his own bed.<p>

Draco took a few minutes to stretch and wake himself up before venturing out of the drawing room. He was going to go up the stairs and see if Harry was asleep but he could smell coffee coming from the kitchen and traveling through the house.

He started down the stairs, but stopped near the top of the kitchen stairs when he heard gentle voices. Draco frowned and looked at his watch for the time; it was nine o'clock on a Saturday morning, why did they have visitors? He went half way down the stairs and stopped when he heard his name mentioned.

"-about Draco," Harry said softly.

"That's just the way that things like this happen sometimes, they're unexpected," Hermione's voice replied, causing Draco to frown. He crouched on the stairs, and even though he knew that this wasn't a good idea to eavesdrop on, he just couldn't help himself.

"But Draco? Of all the people to feel this way about, did it really have to be him? This just complicates everything," Harry said. Draco felt his mouth starting to dry out as he began to clue in a bit as to what they were talking about.

"Does it though? You could just tell him," Hermione said.

"Tell him? No. If he doesn't feel the same way, then that will be even more awkward than it already is when only I know," Harry said. Draco's mouth was starting to resemble sand paper as he started to process everything Harry was saying. Harry had feelings for him?

"You know I think it's great that you've let yourself feel this way towards someone, but I don't think it really counts unless you act on it," Hermione said. Oh Merlin.

Draco figured he had two options here. He could continue down the stairs and interrupt them and try and ignore what he had found out as much as possible, or he could go back up the stairs and leave through the front door and go somewhere to think this through rationally before coming to a decision about what he was going to say to Harry. He chose the latter, and without Hermione or Harry knowing, Draco left to think about what he had heard and try and figure out his own feelings. It was definitely about time he worked on them


	10. Chapter 10

Yeah, so this is late. Like six months late. I actually don't know how late but it's probably about that. It took me forever to get round to writing it but once I did it came along quickly. And thanks to my beautiful beta it's ready for you all to read, it you even can be bothered by now. I know there's a few holes through the story with certain little things and I blame this on myself for leaving it so long between updates.

It's here now though, so enjoy.

A wee warning though, it's got a pretty explicit sex scene in it. Just so you know.

* * *

><p>Draco sighed as he entered the house after going for a very short walk around muggle London. He had bought a coffee from a very busy, though comfortable, cafe that he would have quite happily curled up and lived in; it had smelled that pleasant. Even though the barista had laughed at the name he had given her before sheepishly scribbling it on the cup once she realized he wasn't joking, he couldn't resist its charm. Instead, he had left and sat down on a park bench where he quickly drained his coffee and arrived back home again within the hour.<p>

Almost as soon as he had left the house, he had figured out how he felt about Harry. At first Draco wasn't sure if it was just because he had been in the other man's presence all day, every day, for the past week, but he realized that didn't really matter. He missed him. He missed the knowledge of having Harry around, just having him only a shout away. The minute he stepped out of the warmth and magical charm of that house he was thinking about being back in it; being back with Harry.

Of course this knowledge should have probably startled him a little bit, he shouldn't have felt so comfortable about it all, but he really didn't need to panic and over think it all. He knew how he felt so what was the point of denying it and hiding away from it? It was all so sudden, these feelings, but did that really matter in the end?

Draco stopped in the hallway just at Mrs. Black's portrait after taking his jacket off and listened for voices. He heard nothing, the house was silent and he wondered if Harry had stepped out or even gone back to bed? He decided to check his room first.

As soon as he reached the landing to which Harry's room was on, he knew Harry was there This was because he could see him standing at his window, through the open bedroom door as well as because he could hear the music coming from the radio inside the room.

He stopped at the door and hung around in the doorway, unsure whether to knock or just walk right in. Harry had his back to him, looking out of the window, his arms behind his back. Before Draco could do anything more than hover, Harry turned and his eyes fell immediately onto him.

"I saw you coming," he said, gesturing towards the window and Draco smiled.

"Thought you might have," Draco propelled himself forward and walked into the room with a stuttering heartbeat. He decided to sit down on the edge of the bed as Harry turned back to the window and looked out once again. Harry's room hadn't been changed too much in the redecorating, mainly because of Harry's sentiments in wanting to keep everything as it was when Sirius was alive. It was mainly just freshened up, a little bit brighter and cozy and the furniture given a bit of a modern makeover.

"I didn't even know you were up until I saw you out the window," Harry didn't turn away from the window as he spoke.

"Yeah, I woke up and really fancied a coffee from that place around the corner. I heard you and Hermione talking and didn't want to disturb you," Draco looked over at Harry as he said it. He couldn't see Harry's expression, only his back, but he could see the other man's shoulders tense a slightly.

"You heard us talking?" Harry asked tentatively.

"Yeah, I take it she's gone home?" Draco asked, knowing that it was true, but trying to drop as many hints as possible that he wanted to talk about this. He had to get some clarity about what he had overheard.

"Yes. Not long ago," Harry turned his head to face Draco and studied his face at last. Draco let him; let him read every feeling he had, and just watched him back. "Look-" Harry started and then frowned, maybe a bit confused as to the messages he was getting from Draco's expression.

Draco saved him the bother of carrying on and said "I heard what you said Harry, and I'm not going to dance around the subject and just ignore it. I don't share my feelings well but I know that this-" he gestured between the two of them, "-isn't a normal friendship, I can feel that much at least."

Harry studied him carefully, as if trying to figure out if there was any way that Draco wasn't being honest with him. He obviously found nothing of consequence from Draco's expression as he said after a few seconds, "I agree. I don't want to start labeling this thing, this… whatever we are, whatever we become. It's not going to be conventional; it's not going to be able to fit into a label." He turned his whole body to face Draco, and slowly walked over to his bed before climbing onto it and crossing his legs. Draco swung his legs up, crossing them underneath himself, and when their knees brushed briefly, both of them felt the spark run through their veins though neither of them moved.

"Exactly, we're on the same page then," Draco said quietly. His eyes traveled all over Harry's face, taking him in the best he could. The sun shone in through the window and now that they had both moved, it was lighting up Harry's face, casting perfect shadows over his features. Draco had never felt more attracted to someone than he felt towards Harry in that moment.

"Looks like it," Harry replied. His eyes trained on Draco's lips, not moving even when Draco swept his tongue across his bottom one. He felt the pressure increase on his knee as Harry leant forward, coming closer.

"So, we're really doing this? No matter what the consequences? We both want this?" Draco asked, just to make sure, just so that Harry knew that he was prepared to become serious about this if he was.

"No matter what," Harry said, licking his own lips now as he felt Draco's breath over them, they had gotten that close.

"Okay," Draco said, having got all the conformation he needed before he stopped hesitating and finally closed the gap between them, pressing his lips hard against Harry's.

Harry's hands came up to hold onto Draco's upper arms, surprised at how strong they felt even through the fabric of his crisp white shirt. He was grateful that they could keep him grounded and upright for he wasn't sure he could do it himself. Draco's fingers twisted into the excess material of Harry's t-shirt, around his waist, and tugged in an attempt to pull him even closer.

Harry's hands slipped down and settled on Draco's thighs, making him jump a little, not expecting it. Harry smiled into the kiss, before pulling backwards. Their faces remained close as they studied each other's expression.

"Why didn't we do that sooner?" Harry was slightly breathless, the air knocked from him.

"You have commitment issues," Draco answered simply which caused Harry to frown.

"Thanks," he said and started to back away further. Draco slid his arms around Harry's waist to stop him from going any further and pulled him on top of him as he stretched out and lay against Harry's pillows.

"But that's okay. That's to be expected. You can continue to, no labels remember? Nothing conventional, this can be whatever we want it to be," Draco said. Harry continued to frown for a moment before he kissed Draco again.

"Yeah," he said while his lips never parted from Draco's for more than a second, letting them meet again and again. Already, kissing him was one of his favourite things to do and he found he couldn't ever remember feeling this way about anyone before. To say that he was surprised to find himself feeling this way about Draco, of all people, was an understatement.

* * *

><p>Harry sighed as he shifted against Draco. He sat up, removing his head from the crook of Draco's arm and turned to look up at him. Draco smiled before frowning slightly, wondering why Harry was moving. They had been in that position for about half an hour once they had finally been able to leave each other's lips alone, just sitting comfortably in silence, each thinking about the same thing; how much their lives were about to change.<p>

"We should probably think about having lunch, are you hungry?" Harry asked.

"Erm..." Draco paused, having to think about it, food had been the last thing on his mind only seconds ago and he tried to listen to his stomach to judge. "Yeah, I guess,"

"What do you fancy?" Harry asked while he pushed himself up and shuffled off his bed. Draco propped himself up and watched as Harry walked around the bed, pulled a jumper from his chair and put it on.

"I don't know, why don't we make lunch together? And start thinking about what we want for dinner too?" Draco asked.

"Good idea," Harry grinned. He made it round to Draco's side of the bed and held out his hand for Draco to take. Draco hesitated for a split second before he took the offered hand, smiled at Harry and allowed him to pull him up off the bed, through the halls and down the stairs to the kitchen.

They let each other's hands go when Harry made his way into the pantry and Draco put the kettle on, taking out two mugs for coffee. Harry came back with some bread and cheese and a jar of pickles, silently holding them up for Draco to see and see if he approved of his choice. Draco nodded and smiled in agreement.

Harry made the sandwiches and Draco made the coffee, both in silence, comfortable but strange at the same time. Neither of them were very sure what to do or say, they hadn't come to a decision as to where they were now, apart from making it clear that they didn't want to have to name whatever they had. This was probably what was making it so hard to talk about.

Once they had finished making their lunch they sat down at the kitchen table, Harry at the head of it with Draco to the right of him and started to eat. Harry was contemplating pulling the unread prophet towards him and having a flick through it, especially since it didn't look like they were about to break out into conversation any time soon. Draco however, had lowered his sandwich and interrupted that thought before Harry could reach over his plate.

"I forgot to mention this a couple of weeks ago, my mother mentioned that there was a ball at the ministry and that I had been invited," Draco said.

"Oh yeah, I'd forgotten about that, isn't it tomorrow night?" Harry said.

"You know about it? I never mentioned it," Draco said, shocked and looked at Harry with raised, questioning eyebrows.

"I know. I've been invited too," Harry said with a slight laugh at Draco's shock.

"Oh. Of course. Yeah," Draco said and nodded looking down at his half eaten sandwich; his hands suddenly grew hot and sweaty. He was going to suggest that they go together, but if Harry was already going then it kind of put a dent into making it a kind of date. "Are you going to it?"

"I was going to be, yeah, good job you reminded me about it to be honest," Harry said, unfazed by Draco's sudden change of tone of voice and the fact that his right knee was bouncing under the table.

"Who are you taking to it?" Draco asked, getting around to the one question that he had wanted to ask from the start, as he picked pieces of his sandwich. It had only just occurred to him that Harry might already have a date.

Harry wasn't stupid though, the questions were coming out of Draco's mouth a little too quickly and sharply to be casual conversation and so he finally looked up and over at Draco and realized by the way he was focused on his plate and avoiding Harry's gaze, what was going on. "Uh, I didn't have anyone in mind; was just going to go on my own," he said and hoped that Draco would hear the suggestion in his tone.

"You can't go on your own though!" Draco blurted out before he could stop himself, horrified at himself as he suddenly heard his mother's voice come out of his mouth.

"Why not? Who are you going with?" Harry asked suddenly frowning. If Draco was going and insisted on not going on his own, then surely he wouldn't have left it until the day before to find someone to go with.

"Uhm, well...er, I hadn't decided yet," Draco muttered and Harry relaxed, so Draco was trying to ask him to go. Well even though he now knew this, he wasn't going to make it easy for him. After all, he was still Draco Malfoy.

"It's tomorrow."

"I know that," Draco snapped back and leant back in his chair.

Harry set down his coffee and found himself suddenly taking pity on Draco. Why could Draco not just ask him and be done with it? Why did they have to go round the houses to get to what would inevitably happen? He'd always seen Draco as confident and as someone who would go and get what they wanted. Not this shy unsure man sat in front of him. Did Harry really have that effect on him?

"Well, how about since we're both going, and neither of us has someone to go with, we go with each other?" Harry suggested, realizing maybe he would have to take some risks with Draco.

Harry didn't even realize how tense Draco's shoulders were until he loosened them and looked at Harry. He seemed relieved to have Harry ask him instead of the other way around to begin with, but then his expression changed to slight horror as he clearly suddenly thought of something.

"To a ministry ball? Yeah, okay!" Draco scoffed sarcastically and stood up. He left his plate with his half-finished sandwich and his mug half full on the table as he turned his back on Harry and ran his hand through his hair.

Harry frowned; he had thought that he had asked the question they both wanted to ask, but apparently not. Suddenly the idea of going to a ministry ball together was horrifying for Draco and for a moment Harry wondered why, before a thought occurred to him, "What? Are you ashamed to be seen with me? Would that taint your pure blood reputation?" Harry asked, unable to help himself from asking the question burning on his tongue.

"Don't be so bloody stupid, of course that's not the reason. You do realize that everyone there would have something to say about it though, not to mention, one minute you're telling me, we don't want to be labeling what we have, only to be asking me out the next minute. Do you know how confusing you are?" Draco ranted; his words ran together as he fought to get each word out in the right order. He was panicked suddenly and Harry couldn't understand why.

"Me? You just casually brought this whole thing up then did you? Just for conversation? You didn't want me to ask you if you wanted to go together?" Harry asked.

Draco pulled on his hair and started to pace the kitchen. "I don't bloody know, okay, you've confused it all by saying we can't label this,"

"That's got nothing to do with it, you just suddenly changed your mind about wanting to go to this stupid ball, you're the one confusing everything," Harry said. He stood now too and took his and Draco's plate to the sink and clattered around as he cleaned up and neither of them said anything but Harry could feel the pulsing anger coming from Draco.

"So how long did that last? Half an hour? That's definitely a new low, even for undefined relationships. You infuriate me sometimes!" Draco said, finally and looked over at Harry. Harry turned from the sink and faced Draco too, only a few steps from him, his own anger prickling.

"Yeah, well the feelings mutual! We wouldn't even be having this conversation if you hadn't brought up that stupid ball in the first place," Harry said, throwing his arms around as he spoke, making it clear how annoyed he was.

Draco let out a small noise of irritation that sounded a lot like a growl and before either of them realized what they were doing, their lips were together and they were kissing again, hungrily, passionately and fiercely, trying to portray their feelings as much as possible in a kiss, and managing quite well.

"I fucking hate you," Draco said once they stopped for air, but dove right back at Harry for round two, his hands tight on Harry's hips, pulling him as close as possible.

"I hate you too," Harry said, not even parting their lips to express his feelings, while his own hands traveled up Draco's shirt, scratching at the soft skin of his back, feeling goose bumps erupt under his fingertips.

Harry ended up pushed up against the sink, bent back at the hips with one of Draco's hands in his hair and lips on his neck, his breath catching in his throat with every scrape of Draco's teeth. Harry's hands were rested at the nape of Draco's neck, his fingertips brushing the ends of his hair and making patterns on the skin.

"Are we going together then?" Harry whispered as the thought crossed his mind that they hadn't come to a decision and plucking up the courage to ask and hopefully not start another shouting match.

"Yes," Draco breathed against his neck as if it was obvious, sounding like he had come to a decision after all and that Harry should have known that.

"Okay," Harry nodded; not wanting to ask why there had been a problem in the first place, just in case. He'd leave that for another day.

Draco finally stepped back, breaking all contact with Harry, allowing the two of them to straighten themselves out and look at each other properly.

"Are all our fights going to end like that?" Harry asked.

"Probably," Draco said and the pair of them shared a smile. Harry nodded, cleared his throat and turned around to do the dishes he had just been hanging over a second ago. Draco leant against the counter and watched him with crossed arms and a smile. This wasn't going to be easy but they were both already secretly sure that it would all be worth it.

* * *

><p>"Come on Draco, we're going to be late," Harry shouted from the bottom of the stairs, where he was waiting dressed in his new deep blue dress robes, Draco had helped him pick out earlier and attempted to get his hair to sit in a respectable way, he had always had issues with it, but only when it actually mattered.<p>

"Wait...just a..." Draco's faint voice trailed off from up two flights of stairs.

Harry sighed and gave up on his hair and looked down at his watch. They were already half an hour late as it was, something Draco had insisted on, saying that it was expected. Harry had never heard such a thing, but had went with it anyway. He was nervous. Really nervous. No one, except those closest to him, even knew that they were living together; they had managed to keep it surprisingly quiet. He had suddenly been able to appreciate why Draco had freaked at the idea of going together. Turning up at a Ministry party together was a huge step in more ways than one, it was letting the whole world know that they were friends, which would lead to questions, which would lead to the whole wizarding world finding out that they were living together, not to mention it was a big step for them and their relationship to go to a social event together even if it was only them that knew, for they weren't about to walk in there holding hands or anything. It was daunting to say the least.

Harry turned when he finally heard Draco coming down the stairs, he appeared wearing black dress robes that had crystals around the hem, and Harry couldn't say he was surprised at how flashy they were. His hair had been slicked back like it used to be styled in school and in a way that Harry hadn't seen him the whole time they lived together. He much preferred it the natural way.

"Are you ready to go?" Harry asked with a smile as he took all of Draco in. He really did know how to pull off dress robes well, much better than himself that's for sure.

"Of course," Draco said as if it was quite obvious that he was ready and didn't know what Harry was waiting for. Harry rolled his eyes and followed Draco into the kitchen so that they could floo to where the ball was being held.

Draco went first, smiling at Harry from the green flames before he said the name of the venue and disappeared with a flourish. He was waiting just next to the fireplace at the other end when Harry arrived. There was a house elf standing nearby to show them to the main ball room.

"You ready for this?" Draco asked Harry as they followed the elf forward, where it pushed open heavy wooden doors to open up into a massive ballroom, full to the brim of witches and wizards making their way around the room, socializing and dancing.

"As I'll ever be," Harry said with an intake of breath as he took in all the familiar and unfamiliar faces in the room, not to mention the room itself. It was the biggest he had ever seen, and that was saying something when he worked in the Ministry. There were at least a dozen chandeliers spaced out above them and the room looked even bigger with the amount of mirrors along the walls. He was beginning to wonder how he had gotten invited to this extravagant place.

He had expected a lot of people, but not this many, so when the majority of eyes turned to look at he and Draco, he couldn't stop the flush that bloomed on his cheeks. The music was still playing loudly but he could still hear the whispers and mutters all around him. People were genuinely shocked at the pair of them showing up together, more so than Harry ever imagined.

"Come on, we've got to keep moving," Draco said with a hand on Harry's elbow, and guided him forward. He normally wasn't this bad with everyone having their attention on him, he'd grown kind of used to it but this time it felt much more judgmental than normal, probably due to the blond by his side.

"Why on earth did I agree to this?" Harry said out of the side of his mouth to Draco while they made a bee line for the bar at the back of the room.

"Because you're a good person and can't say no," Draco stated.

"That sounds about right," Harry said as they reached the bar, the bar tender ready to serve them straight away, staring from one to the other over and over again.

"Two firewhisky's please. Neat," Draco stated, holding out two golden galleons. The bartender nodded, turned to look at Harry warily before making their drinks.

Harry turned, leaning against the bar to look over everyone in the room. More than a few heads were turned their way and Harry could have thought of nothing better than sinking into the fine wood of the bar on his back. He could already see the headlines in the Prophet the next morning for he was sure he saw a familiar reporter slinking around the place.

Draco handed Harry his drink and sipped his own, leaning next to him, scanned the room also, not recognizing a single person's face in the whole room yet. That made him feel uncomfortable, outnumbered.

"Should we mingle?" Harry asked.

"I don't know anyone here," Draco said.

"Really? I see your mother," Harry said, pointing over to Draco's left with the hand that held his glass before he sipped at it. Draco turned and right enough, his mother was over speaking to someone, her robes a deep purple velvet, trimmed with lace. For once, Draco was relieved to see his mother.

Before Draco could suggest they went and spoke to her, she spotted them, made her excuses to which she was speaking to and started making her way over. Draco realized he probably wasn't prepared for this as much as he thought he would be, and wasn't as relieved to see her as he thought, considering the company he had at the bar.

"Oh Merlin," he turned to face Harry, downed his drink and slammed the glass on the bar, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. Harry watched him with slight amusement, having never seen the pair together since during the war, and Draco barely spoke of her around the house. He had no idea what their relationship was like now.

Draco turned back just as Mrs. Malfoy reached them, saying fondly "Draco!" as if he was more of a long lost friend than a son.

"Mother," Draco said simply and they air kissed twice on each side. Harry stood straighter as he felt her eyes on him each time her face appeared at either side of Draco's and prepared himself for what she was going to say to him.

"I wasn't sure you were coming, fashionably late I see," she said, her hands clutching Draco's forearms quite tightly from what Harry could tell.

"You're the one that taught me that's the only way to be at these parties," Draco said and Harry caught her smile before it disappeared just as quickly.

"Quite right," she said. She straightened and let go of Draco, turning her attention to Harry. He took another sip of his drink to prepare himself as Draco sidestepped out of the way. "Mr. Potter," she said and held out her hand for Harry to take. He thought it was to be a handshake but the position was wrong and he stole a glance Draco.

Draco subtly raised his own hand to his lips and turned to order another drink so he didn't have to witness it, it was too strange for him. Harry took Narcissa's hand and raised it to his lips, brushing them over the skin briefly as possible, straightening again almost immediately.

"Mrs. Malfoy, nice to see you here tonight," he said, having that same feeling of wanting to be swallowed up and blended in as he felt more heads and eyes turn and focus on him. Sometimes he really hated who he was.

"And you. Also, Narcissa shall be fine, I saw you arrive with my son, we need not pretend," she said simply and casually looked around her; she waved politely at someone in the crowd.

Draco fumbled with the galleon he was handing over to the bartender and Harry felt his heartbeat quicken and skip. Draco turned back to them and Harry's eyes were wide in his direction, panicked, his mothers were soft, calculating when she turned back to them.

"I-I don't know what you mean mother," Draco said quietly, hoping no one was listening in on their conversation even though a lot of eyes were looking in their direction and the bar tender was taking his time in pouring Draco's drink.

"I have had many courtships to be able to recognize one when I see one right in front of me, I knew it would simply be a matter of time after you moved in together. Passionate hatred often turns the opposite way when caught in close proximity, I should know, it's how your father and I got married," Narcissa commented. Harry's jaw dropped before he could stop it and he stood gaping at her, without really knowing he was doing it and not really caring either.

She didn't seem angry, in fact she didn't seem to be displaying any kind of emotion towards the idea and it was unnerving Harry and Draco. Draco was used to his father flying off the handle at things, he had never been in the position for his mother to do it and so was completely taken aback to know this was the approach she was using. She either cared a lot or was saving it for private, or she didn't care and accepted it. Draco was willing to bet it was the first.

"Now Draco, dear, would you get me a drink, not one of these people have bought me one all night," Narcissa said. She turned to the barman whom had been serving someone else but had glanced over to them time and time again trying to eavesdrop, and put in her order. Draco paid, while looking over his mother's head at Harry, shocked and confused.

Before Harry and Draco could defend themselves, or whatever they were going to do, a call of Harry's name from behind him, distracted them all and Harry turned to see the head Auror from France making his way through the crowds of people. Harry excused himself from Draco and his mother and made his way to meet him. He had only met the guy twice, but anybody was better than the situation at the bar.

The rest of the night, Harry barely got a minute to get back to Draco, even once his mother had left to mingle too, as always everyone wanted to talk to him, to share stories, to ask advice, to buy him drinks. He tried to remain as sober as possible but there were only a certain amount of firewhisky he could politely consume before it started going to his head.

A couple of times he noticed Draco speaking to other people, friends or acquaintances he couldn't be sure but once he noticed Mrs. Malfoy had left, he wanted nothing more than to get back to him and spend the rest of the night by his side. However, every time he tried he would be dragged aside by someone else and it was making it impossible to even excuse himself to the bathroom without getting waylaid on the way there.

As the night wore on, Harry was getting increasingly more drunk, and tired but luckily so was everyone else and the crowds of people eventually started to thin out and after Harry made his excuses to someone he didn't even know, but had insisted on talking to him about the current muggle economy, he was able to make a beeline for Draco, when he spotted him leaning against a mirrored wall at the other side of the room, looking glumly into the bottom of his empty glass.

"Need a refill?" Harry asked as he walked towards him, only a few steps away. Draco looked up and Harry's heart skipped as he smiled at him.

"Yes, but I'd rather have one of my own whisky, from my own drinks cabinet, from our drawing room," Draco replied and Harry was able to tell that he had probably had about as much as he had by the way his words were slightly slurred together.

"I have no problem with that," Harry said, reaching out and touching his hand briefly, even intoxicated he knew to be as subtle and careful as possible.

"Then what are we waiting for?" Draco asked, his eyes focused on Harry's lips, while licking his own.

Harry's face split into a grin and he turned, making a straight line for the door, his eyes focused on it and nothing else, ignoring anyone that turned to him or looked like they wanted to talk. It was maybe a little rude but it was necessary. Draco pushed away from the mirror, seconds later and was hot on Harry's heels, he didn't have to rudely ignore anyone as no one wanted to talk to him and he was more than fine with that.

They were going one after the other through the fireplace and home within seconds. The minute Harry tumbled into the kitchen, Draco was on him, hot firewhisky breath brushing over his skin as he sighed and kissed Harry's neck and lips and cheeks and any place he could reach.

Harry went willingly along with everything, smiling, laughing, gripping and clutching every chance he got. He was drunk and so was Draco and it was making for a very passionate display, that they were surely going to regret the next morning.

Harry was pushed and bent backwards over the kitchen table, knocking cups and sending parchment flying, it wasn't a comfortable position but Harry was drunk enough not to care. Draco was happily exploring Harry's body with his fingers and lips and couldn't honestly think of anything he would rather be doing at that moment.

"I thought you wanted whisky?" Harry laughed, his fingers threaded into Draco's hair.

"Decided I want you instead," Draco said. This had been brewing for a while, it was going to happen eventually, so why not now? They were making drunken decisions and not thinking about the outcome, they had no definition of their relationship, so they had no first date rule.

Within minutes they were racing each other up the stairs, laughing and stumbling into Harry's room as it was closest and immediately fell into bed with each other. To begin with they attempted to undress each other, but the robes were fiddly and much harder to get off in a hurry than muggle clothes were, and so Draco came up with the idea to remove them with magic. This worked a treat.

The sex wasn't great, but it didn't matter as they would barely remember it in the morning. They were both very drunk and didn't last very long; it wasn't exactly filled with foreplay and cautious, curious touching or romantic moments. It was a good fuck, a quick way to get off, to get rid of the tension that had built through the evening, but it wasn't love. Once it ended, they both fell asleep, without even a word said, but wrapped up together, Harry's head rested on Draco's chest.

* * *

><p>The next morning Harry woke up to the sound of a steady beat under his head and warm flesh at his fingertips. It took him a good couple of seconds to realize what position he had found himself in. He froze and opened his eyes too look straight ahead, seeing the other side of his room, but with pale skin out the corner of his eye. He picked his head up and looked round at Draco, whom was still asleep.<p>

He wasn't too drunk, or stupid enough to not remember what had happened, he just couldn't remember the finer details. He closed his eyes again, panic rose up in him and he wondered how he would be able to sneak out of his own bed, or if he even wanted to. Draco's arm was round his back, his hand rested on his bare hip, and he was warm and smelled amazing, even if it was mixed with the scent of sex and sweat.

He stayed the way he was for a moment to decide how he would approach this situation when Draco woke up. He liked where he was and if he was being honest with himself didn't want to move in the slightest. Draco's body was warm and the sound of his steady breathing was comforting and Harry sat up on his elbow to take in the body under him just a little more.

Draco was fast asleep, his chest was rising and falling steadily; his head turned away from Harry, his hair was spread over the pillow and falling into his eyes. The sheet was only pulled up to his hips and Harry could see the sharp dip of his bones and the faint outline of his ribs. His skin was pale and it took closer inspection for Harry to see the silvery scars that littered his taunt stomach and chest, a reminder of the sectumsempra spell. Harry traced one of the scars that dipped under the sheet round his hips, with a shaking finger.

His thoughts travelled back to his sixth year and guilty lump rose in his throat as he thought about how awful he felt, and how if it weren't for Snape, he wouldn't be lying there next to Draco right now. His finger was still tracing the silvery scars, one by one and he didn't notice as Draco's breath hitched and he turned his head to face Harry, blinking blearily at the silhouetted outline of the man whose bed he had woken to find himself in.

Draco looked down at what Harry's fingers were doing and brought his own hand up to still Harry's. Harry started and his eyes shot to Draco's face, just noticing that Draco was awake, his face was startled, worried, his eyes were wide and wild. Draco brought his arm up and cupped Harry's cheek. Harry's eyelids fluttered and the tension in his shoulders dropped as he realized that Draco wasn't ashamed and didn't want to jump straight out of his bed. Draco brushed his hand through Harry's hair that was already sticking up in every direction and rose himself up onto his own elbows and kissed him.

Harry slipped both hands onto Draco's sides and dropped so that his back was flat on the bed and pulled Draco down with him so that the sheets tangled around their legs and their chests fell flush together. Harry could feel Draco's heart beat as if it was his own as they continued to kiss and Draco's fingers continued to thread through Harry's hair and Harry's fingers explored Draco's ribs and hips.

Foggy memories of the night before started to spring back into Harry's mind, mainly of Draco hovering over him, panting on each stroke as he pushed hard and fast into Harry, Harry gripping the sheets, Draco's arms, the bed frame, anything with purchase, anything that would keep himself from coming too soon. It hadn't worked, from what Harry could remember it had been over within minutes.

Harry found himself once again, painfully hard, a thin layer of sheet the only thing separating himself and Draco and he couldn't help just wanting to go to that place again, that place where he wanted nothing more than for Draco to fuck him for as long as possible, and Draco seemed to be thinking along the same lines. They wanted to do it properly this time, do it well.

Harry pushed his hips up just slightly, enough of a hint for Draco to let go of Harry's hair and stop kissing him long enough to rip the sheets from between them. Their hot flushed skin shivered from the sudden coolness of the room but neither of them could stop what they were doing. Draco's lips found Harry's neck and collarbone and found a home there while his fingers fumbled for his wand.

He found one, and even though it was Harry's, neither of them cared or even noticed as Draco cast a lubrication charm and coated his hands in it, dropping the wand again when he was done. One arm held himself up, while the other worked on his cock before moving towards Harry's already spread legs.

"No," Harry said the first word of the day and stopped the fingers on route to his arse. Draco frowned and looked up from Harry's neck. Harry smiled shakily and shook his head. "Just do it," he said.

Draco's eyebrows arched as he took in what Harry was asking him to do. To be taken without any preparation, even after last night's events, well he knew from experience that it wouldn't be pleasant in the slightest. His shock turned back to a frown as he decided to ignore Harry and tried to move his fingers forward again. Harry tightened his grip on Draco's wrist and shook his head again.

"Really?" Draco croaked, his throat tight and his voice thick with lust, and Harry nodded. Draco found himself painfully hard, harder than ever and harder than he had been before Harry had refused his preparation. Strangely the thought of this was turning him on even more.

"Please," Harry whimpered, arching against him again, as if Draco really needed anymore encouragement. Draco's eyelids dropped along with his head, nestling back into the crook of Harry's neck and adding his teeth as he sucked and nibbled at the soft flesh there.

Harry arched again and Draco used one hand to guide his cock towards Harry's entrance, and lifted his head again, he needed to watch this. Their eyes met and Harry gave the tiniest of nods, his eyelashes fluttered and Draco pushed slowly forward. Even after being in the same exact position only hours before, Draco hadn't remembered how it had felt until he found himself in it again, only this time it was better because he could appreciate it.

Draco pushed slowly and steadily forward, watching Harry's expression the whole time. His teeth were gritted but his eyes were open, making it clear he wanted Draco to keep going even if tears were swimming in them, his breaths were coming out in short puffs through the cracks of his gritted teeth and his finger nails were digging painfully into Draco's upper arms.

Harry felt as if he was being ripped apart, the further Draco pushed forward, the further it burned. He only managed to keep himself relaxed and stop himself from tensing by the look in Draco's eyes. They were on fire, he was clearly concerned about hurting Harry but his lust was taking over, making him keep going, the thought of hurting him secretly spurring him on, drawing the long loud moan out of him.

Eventually, Draco was buried as far as he could go; his hips were flush against Harry's arse cheeks. He took hold of Harry's legs, that had been splayed either side of him and pulled them up and around his waist, sure that the new position would be a little more comfortable for Harry as he raised himself up to his knees, bending at the waist, over Harry supporting himself with a hand either side of Harry's ribs.

Harry's eyes had slipped closed and his teeth were still gritted. Draco placed a gentle kiss on his lips and then his chin and his cheek and all over his face. Harry was able to relax even more from this and finally let up on his fingernail attack into Draco's arms, where blood was now, slowly blossoming, not that either of them noticed or cared.

Draco found his head back into the crook of Harry's neck as he started to move, the lubrication making it easier but not getting rid of the burn that Harry felt on every stroke. Draco was trying not to enjoy it as much as he actually was, Harry was so tight, unbelievably so, and Draco had to wonder whether he was the first that had fucked Harry's ass, if Harry normally topped, and he resolved to ask once they were finished.

As Harry's arsehole started to spread with the repetitive strokes, Draco found himself quickening them, slamming harder; hard enough to make the bed rock, long guttural moans spilling from his mouth along with mumbled and jumbled words and curses. Harry's puffs of breath turned to sighs and he had started arching against Draco again, trying to get some friction on his aching cock.

"Fuck- tight- you're so fucking tight," Draco stuttered against Harry's neck before he straightened up and gripped Harry's hips and thrust harder. Harry's head thrashed against the pillows and a thin sweat started to build over the pair of them, so much so that Draco's fingers slipped on Harry's hips.

Harry's fingers shook as he griped his own cock, finally able to get a hand between them and start stroking and tugging. Neither of them are looking at each other, both of their eyes are tightly shut, using every other sense in their bodies instead.

The smell of sweat and the heaviness of stifling sex is like a drug that they can't stop sniffing, the smell of each other on each other is enough to remind them what they are doing and that they are doing it with each other. Draco can still taste Harry's neck on his tongue, salty and sweet at the same time and Harry can't get enough of the feel of Draco's fingertips digging into his hips, probably tight enough to bruise.

Harry's close to his orgasm as he desperately stroked his cock and is numb from Draco's pounding, the slight burn still lingered enough for him to get off on it, as he dragged his lip into his own mouth and chewed on it. He bucked his hips in sync with Draco's thrusts as he cursed and moaned above him.

He felt an almighty lurch just below his naval, almost as if he had just used a port key as Draco thrust against his prostate and he figured he'd never be able to travel by port key again without getting a hard on. A new sweat broke across his skin and he felt ridiculously hot in the face as Draco assaulted his prostate over and over.

One more pull on his cock and two more quick thrusts against his prostate sent Harry spiraling into his orgasm. He came with a strangled cry of "Draco!" and arched as far as his spine would let him. His arse tightened and pulsed around Draco, making it almost impossible for Draco to continue thrusting, almost.

Draco pushed harder into Harry, determined to keep fucking him until he himself came, and he wasn't far off. Harry started to yelp, unable to stop himself from tightening around Draco's cock as he pushed on, the tearing sensation intensifying, but finding it unbelievably arousing at the same time. Draco looked down at Harry's face, screwed up in mingled pain and pleasure and let himself explode, burying his cock deep into Harry and collapsed against him.

"Fuck," was all that came out of his mouth against Harry's collarbone as his cock slipped from Harry's arse and he rolled to his side, one arm hung lazily over Harry's sticky stomach, the other pushed under Harry's pillow.

They panted next to each other and didn't say anything for a good ten minutes as they came down and got their breath back. The room that had only minutes ago been filled with moans and the creaking of the bed was still and silent. Harry lay with a smile on his face as he watched dust particles dance in the strip of sunlight seeping in through the gap of the curtains.

Eventually Harry turned his head when he felt Draco's eyes on him and they smiled at each other. Draco placed a small peck on Harry's shoulder and sighed heavily, his breath ghosting over Harry's chest.

"That's the best way I've ever said good morning to anyone," Draco said.

Harry laughed, "Yeah, I'd have to agree with you there,"

"No regrets? Even though we've only been together three days and we've fucked twice?" Draco asked and Harry turned to look at him again. If he wasn't so sore and spent he would have happily have fucked him again, right now. Draco was bringing something out in him, some kind of passion and need that he had no idea he even had.

"Not a one," Harry said and felt a flutter in his stomach as Draco grinned toothily at him. "This was never going to be conventional. I say we do what we want. Fuck the rules,"

It was Draco's turn to laugh. "I've always loved that about you, your disregard for rules, you're thinking along the same lines I was," he said.

Harry smiled and shifted closer to Draco and was brought aware of the sharp pain in his arse and the sticky mess they had left over his stomach and chest. He winced at both and fumbled around the sheets for his wand. He found it and cast a quick cleaning charm, at least he was able to get rid of one problem.

He turned on his side to face Draco properly, wincing again until he stilled and Draco frowned at him. He ran a hand through Harry's hair, trying to sort it the best he could.

"Was that the first time you had bottomed? Apart from last night?" Draco asked.

Harry blushed, although really didn't need to, the question was quite innocent compared to what they had just done to each other. "No. I did it a couple of times with a guy I was seeing a couple of years ago. I do prefer to top though," he said his cheeks ablaze. "Or I did,"

Draco arched an eyebrow at that last comment before swelling with something like pride. "Why did you not let me prep you?" he asked another question that had started to burn in him, intrigued.

Harry blushed even harder, turning scarlet and suddenly couldn't meet Draco's eyes and found something interesting over his shoulder. Draco didn't say anything; just let the question hang there until Harry would answer it.

Finally Harry sighed and mumbled "I get a thrill. From the pain."

Draco had guessed as much in the silence that had stretched after he had asked in the first place, but it was different hearing Harry actually say it. "You've got a pain kink?"

Harry turned on his back again, with another wince, and stared up at the canopy over the bed. "I know it's weird. Especially after, well, everything that I've been through but- I can't explain it,"

"We've all got our kinks Harry. I understand, I kind of get it," Draco shrugged and pulled Harry's face around to him again. He looked into his eyes and smiled, just to show that he really did mean it.

Harry gave a wary smile back and their lips met again, Harry had found he couldn't get enough of Draco's lips, of his mouth and his taste. The thoughts of a blow job crossed his mind and he wondered if Draco would be up for it, but before he could suggest it, they heard a noise from downstairs.

They both stilled, hearing the footsteps at the same time, and looked at each other, frozen, scared to move. Harry's bedroom door was open and he could hear the footsteps growing closer.

"Harry? You still here mate?" Ron's voice filtered up the stairs and Harry was suddenly very aware of the position he found himself in. They hadn't even thought once about their friends' reaction to their situation and Harry was sure that Ron would much prefer not to find out by walking in on him and Draco butt naked in his bed.

Harry and Draco had the same idea, diving from the bed as they heard Ron's footsteps on the stairs, climbing towards them. Draco gathered his clothes and had apparated out of Harry's room within seconds. Harry stumbled and groaned in pain as he pulled on underwear and a pair of jeans he had hanging over the chair by the fire.

He had just buttoned them when Ron's footsteps reached the landing outside his room. "Aren't you ready?" he said from the door. Harry turned to him and found him frowning, his eyes casting around Harry's room.

"Ready for what?" Harry asked, frowning too and trying to be as casual as possible. He pulled on a t-shirt he found on the floor and kicked Draco's forgotten underwear under his bed before Ron had a chance to see.

"I thought you were going back to work today?" Ron asked.

Shit.

"Oh uhm- yeah I am, why what's the time?" Harry asked and squinted at the clock across the room and realized with a jolt that it was half past eight.

"Half eight, I thought I'd come over and we could go to work together, good job I did, are you just up?" Ron asked, squinting at him, he clearly took in Harry's messy hair, the sated flush that his skin only had after vigorous exercise or sex. Ron's head tilted slightly and he scanned the room again.

"Uh- yeah I slept in, I was at that ministry ball last night wasn't I?" Harry said, thankful for the excuse.

"Yes. I know. So does the prophet," Ron said with a smirk and held out the newspaper that Harry only just noticed. He took it and found his own face staring up at him from the front page that read; The Chosen One and The Death Eater. Even Harry had to admit he could have come up with a better title than that.

"Original," Harry commented and tossed the paper onto the bed, not even bothering to read the article. He realized with a jolt for the first time the state of the bed, the sheets hanging off and two distinguishable dents in the mattress. He glanced back at Ron whom was now leaning on the door frame with his arms crossed and smirk on his face.

"The article says you arrived and left with Draco," Ron said.

"Yeah, so?" Harry challenged as he pulled his work robes from his wardrobe.

"So that means you slept with Draco last night," Ron said simply and Harry dropped the coat hanger his robes were on and they fell in a heap on the floor. Ron grinned, taking this as confirmation that his suspicions were right.

"Wh-What makes you say that?" Harry asked, and he bent to pick up his robes.

"Well, if you left with him then you didn't take anyone else home, which means you could have only slept with him, which I know because you look like you've been dragged through a pumpkin patch backwards and the room stinks of sweat and something I'd rather not think about, and don't even get me started on the bed," Ron said.

Harry felt his face heat and he hung his head. Ron's grin widened and he pushed himself away from the door frame. "You can explain at work, get in the shower and get ready, I doubt it will matter that you're late, considering you're the boss," Ron said and he headed back down the stairs.

Harry sighed and did as he was told. Even though his and Draco's bliss had been disturbed he couldn't help but smile at the memory. It had been nice, being together just the two of them in their own little bubble but it was time to face the rest of world; life went on after all.


End file.
